Athens, 15 July 2011

Today, the members of the contact group confirmed their conviction that Gaddafi “is finished” in Libya. He has to leave soon and must be pressured into doing so. I noted that it is very important that the process of transition to democracy not be hostage to what Gaddafi would like to do; that the discussion on the day after has to start immediately.

The second major subject of discussion was the funding, at this time, of the Transitional Council, so that a process of transition to democracy can start to function effectively.

There are significant legal issues regarding the frozen assets and accounts, and we discussed this in depth to find a solution.

The third major issue is, naturally, humanitarian aid. The humanitarian situation in Libya is desperate. Greece has played a leading role on this issue, and I reiterated our readiness for Crete to operate as a center for collection and transport of humanitarian aid to Libya.

The fourth and final important point has to do with the transition to democracy. On this, I stressed that it is very important not to exclude anyone from this process. This includes people who are currently in the regime in Tripoli – not Gaddafi himself. But we cannot have a transition to democracy from which some people are excluded. Libya is a country that, in the absence of universal agreement, might break into many pieces before we reach democracy, with the potential for major violence. As the international community, we have an obligation to avoid this.

But I also stressed that the transition to democracy is naturally the job of the Libyan people. It is not everyone else’s job. We can support them, but the Libyan people themselves need to decide how they will arrive at the desired result, which in the end is the result desired by everyone.