Maltese EU official apologises for pro-Kadhafi speech

(BRUSSELS) - Maltese European Commissioner John Dalli on Sunday expressed "regret" for remarks backing Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi that broke ranks with his EU superiors who want the embattled strongman out.

Dalli, who has enjoyed close commercial ties with Tripoli for a quarter of a century, told a Maltese business forum on Friday: "I don't think I or anyone else has the right to interfere in Colonel Kadhafi's position."

The 62-year-old Dalli's boss, EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, on Wednesday said it was time for Kadhafi "to go and give the country back to the people of Libya."

The European Union's chief diplomat, Catherine Ashton, also demanded that Kadhafi "stand aside."

"I regret if any of the remarks I made on Friday have conveyed the false impression that I do not support the position communicated by president Barroso on the situation in Libya on Wednesday 2 March," Dalli in a statement.

"Some of my remarks were interpreted out of context and considered to be in contradiction with the president's statements. I am of course fully behind the position expressed by the president on behalf of the commission.

"The main point I was making regarding Mr Kadhafi in my personal remarks, strongly condemning any violence, was that Mr Kadhafi must follow the will of his people.

"I also expressed the view that democratic governance is the fountain from which everything else will flow: human rights, free elections, freedom of speech."

In reports that spread from Maltese media, Dalli also backed Kadhafi's suggestion that outside forces had manipulated coverage of protests over the past fortnight.

"Sometimes doubt creeps into one's head when seeing people speaking perfect English and hoisted up by a group of people made to look like a crowd. I wonder if they might be shots 'created' for journalists," Dalli was also quoted as saying.

Spokesman Frederic Vincent told AFP he had been in contact with Dalli on Saturday, and argued that "personal commentaries" on a country he knows well, "that's no secret," should not be confused with his core beliefs.

"He said a solution that respects human rights had to be found," Vincent insisted.

Dalli, who owns a home in Tripoli, worked for a Libyan-Maltese Joint Commission from 1987 to 1996 and 1998 to 2004 -- periods when Libya was under UN sanctions.

Consultancy firm John Dalli & Associates goes back to 2004, with offices in Tripoli.

Online autobiographical notes say it focuses on "introducing and facilitating the establishment of Western companies in the north African economies, especially Libya."