France,Britain push hardest for military action in Libya

Both countries,the most adamant backers of the United Nations Security Council resolution to authorise military action in Libya,also pointed to the passage of the measure on Thursday as an important if rare example of European resolve.

Despite all negative comments,Libya shows that there is a political and diplomatic dynamic of European construction and an active European voice in world affairs, said Bernard Valero,the spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France,perhaps still wary after he and other senior French officials were criticised as having a cozy relationship with the now-toppled Tunisian government of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali,met with leaders of the Libyan opposition on March 10,and announced that France had recognised an inchoate opposition group as Libyas legitimate government. Frances foreign minister,Alain Juppé,spoke openly this week of his unhappiness with Washingtons slowness and difficulty in defining its position.

France and Britain had been calling for a no-fly zone for two weeks,he said Wednesday,but other nations dragged their feet. It often happens… weakness of democracies gives dictators free rein, he said. Its not too late to break with this rule. He added that it was not enough to call on Muammar Gaddafi to quit,as leaders in the US and other nations had done.

The day before,he vented to the French Parliament: Never mind that theres European impotence,but what about American power? What about Russian power? Russia is evolving,and the Americans havent yet defined their position.

The French-British forcefulness on Libya did not make all Europeans happy,either. Germany abstained in the vote and said it would not take part in military action. Italy,more dependent on Libyan natural gas and oil,reluctantly decided to allow its military bases to be used to enforce a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians,despite a 2008 friendship treaty with Libya. Rome has de facto suspended that treaty,in the words of the Italian foreign minister,Franco Frattini.

The British Prime Minister,David Cameron,has been almost as outspoken as the French about the need to use force against Gaddafi,despite the large cuts Cameron has made in military spending.

Cameron told the House of Commons that the British Air Force would deploy Tornado and Typhoon warplanes,as well as air-to-air refueling and surveillance aircraft.