Albright Blasts European Nations’ Ties to Iran, Libya

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright waded Sunday into the transatlantic dispute over how to deal with nations supporting terrorism, but her no-nonsense style had little apparent impact in the first of a series of meetings she plans with European leaders.

Using language that one aide described as “frank, direct but not rude,” Albright chastised Italian leaders for backing Europe’s strategy of maintaining trade and political links with Iran and Libya.

Italy--which receives nearly half of its oil from the two countries--and other European Union member countries see such contacts as part of what they term a “critical dialogue” aimed at nudging these regimes toward the mainstream of the international community.

The U.S. has urged the world community to isolate Iran because of its support for terrorism and its efforts to gain nuclear capability. Libya reportedly harbors two suspects linked to the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland that claimed 270 lives.

“There’s one thing that disturbs me, and that is Italy’s treatment of the rogue states,” she told reporters after meetings with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini on the first leg of a nine-nation tour. “Supporting states that support terrorism . . . creates genuine problems for us.”

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Albright also criticized Italy’s trade links with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, noting that the Italian telecommunications company Stet does business there using facilities that were once U.S. property.

One provision of legislation passed by Congress last year--but suspended by President Clinton--calls for sanctions against foreign companies that operate facilities confiscated by Castro from U.S. citizens.

“There was no narrowing of views on this issue,” said State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns.

The 15-nation European Union has lodged a formal challenge to the U.S. law, claiming it constitutes a secondary boycott. The proceedings are due to begin next week at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.

On the range of non-trade-related issues, however, Albright found broad-based support for U.S. views, including the urgent need to work toward a diplomatic solution that would end the division of Cyprus and the importance of including Turkey in efforts to further unify Europe.

But on this first stop of Albright’s first foreign trip as secretary of State, attention was focused as much on her personally as on the issues she discussed.

During a brief walk through the 16th century Piazza del Campidoglio, Albright bantered with passersby, posed with a family of Italians on a Sunday outing and described her approach to her new job.

“It’s a friendly style,” she said. “It’s a very people-to-people style. Everyone has their own style, and I’m trying my [own] out.”