EU leaders fail to demand no-fly zone over Libya

EU leaders backed off demanding a no-fly zone over Libya, saying they would leave it up to the UN to decide, but they united in demanding that Gaddafi go and declaring he no longer represented the country or its people.

Instead they recognised the interim transitional national council based in Benghazi, where the overthrow of Gaddafi began, and said they considered it a political interlocutor.

Representatives of the National Council were in Brussels yesterday where they met diplomatic representatives of the EU but were not formally introduced to the EU leaders.