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The shipment was made in sealed containers, its value was incorrectly marked and it was incorrectly lodged in the EU register (Photo: dawvon)

Italy-Libya arms deal shows weakness of EU code

by Andrew Rettman, Brussels,

An Italian company's sale of over 11,000 pistols and rifles to Libya in late 2009 has highlighted weaknesses in the EU's arms control regime and the dangers of selling guns to difficult countries.

EUobserver and arms-control NGO Rete Italiana per il Disarmo have learned that on 29 November 2009 Italian company Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta quietly shipped €7,936,900 of small arms from the port of La Spezia in Italy via Malta to Tripoli.

The deal did not break any laws because the...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

The shipment was made in sealed containers, its value was incorrectly marked and it was incorrectly lodged in the EU register (Photo: dawvon)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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