Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - November 24, 2004
"The kind of answer the Libyan authorities give to this specific problem is important for the overall relation that we want to have with Libya," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in his first news conference since taking office Monday.
A Libyan court sentenced the five Bulgarians and a Palestinian doctor to death for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with the AIDS virus. Bulgaria's government and human rights groups accuse Libya of concocting the story to cover-up unsafe hospital practices.
Barroso said he'd asked European leaders to raise the issue in any contact with Libya, which has restarted after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last year abandoned plans to develop weapons of mass destruction.
French President Jacques Chirac was traveling to Libya Wednesday amid renewed economic interest in the oil-rich nation. His trip is the first by a French president since Libya's independence from Italy in 1951.
The E.U. last month ended 12 years of economic sanctions against Libya and effectively lifted an arms embargo. However, friction remains over the sentencing of the nurses from Bulgaria, which is negotiating to join the E.U. in 2007.
"We are very much looking forward to the possibility of having better relations with Libya, but we think this is important," Barroso said.
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