Italy Takes Steps to Show Solidarity With U.S. Actions
As a gesture of solidarity with President Reagan’s call for the isolation of Libya, the Italian government Thursday halted exports of “particularly dangerous” weapons to the North African country and said that no Italian workers will be allowed to take up jobs abandoned by Americans now working in Libya.
The measures, taken during a meeting of Prime Minister Bettino Craxi’s Cabinet, fell far short of the sort of collective economic sanctions President Reagan urged his European allies to adopt in his television broadcast Tuesday night.
In announcing the Cabinet’s decision, Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti said that any further steps Italy might take against Libya, its former colony, would depend on the joint decision of the 12-nation European Communities.
Many of the organization’s more important members--including Britain, West Germany and France--have already expressed unwillingness to apply economic sanctions against Libya.
The decision to show even limited solidarity with Reagan was viewed here as a victory by Craxi, the Socialist prime minister, over Andreotti, the Christian Democratic foreign minister.
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