BRUSSELS, Aug 11 (AFP) - European Commission president Romano Prodi welcomed Wednesday a compensation deal reached between Germany and Libya over a Berlin nightclub bombing as clearing one major obstacle to Tripoli's ties with the EU.
But Prodi was concerned that the fate of five Bulgarian nurses facing death by firing squad in Libya remained a major impediment to warming relations with the European Union, a spokesman said.
"I am very happy to hear that the final settlement between the association of the families of the victim of the La Belle discotheque bombing in Berlin in 1986, and the Libyan authorities has been concluded," Prodi said in a statement.
"I welcome this further progress in Libyan policy that shows the strength of the new path they have chosen. I appreciate this new step towards the full reintegration of Libya into the international community," he said.
Prodi said his commission had been vindicated in pushing for closer EU-Libya ties, and said the door remained open to the country joining the "Barcelona process" of partnership between the EU and Mediterranean rim nations.
Mediterranean EU nations were keen to work with Libya on stemming the tide of illegal immigrants trying to reach Europe from north Africa, "a crime that is causing too many victims in our seas", he added.
The president of the EU executive hosted a landmark visit to Brussels by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in late April.
But relations were dealt a serious setback just a week later when a Libyan court passed death sentences against the Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for deliberately spreading AIDS in a children's hospital.
Bulgaria is hoping to join the EU in 2007 and the bloc has made clear its profound disquiet over the trial and the sentences.
"The condemnation of the death penalty stands and that in itself is something of an obstacle to the discussions with Libya," the commission spokesman said.