[French President] Nicolas Sarkozy has said that there was no quid pro quo for the Bulgarian nurses' release. Mr Al-Qadhafi's son claims the opposite.
I say to Mr Saif al-Islam that his assertion is inaccurate. And I reaffirm that this topic was never broached in our discussions about the Bulgarian nurses' release. Of course it is possible to believe that the president's visit created a favourable climate, which could have had a part to play. But the trade negotiations between MBDA (an EADS subsidiary - Le Figaro editor's note) had been going on for some time and we never intervened to hasten their conclusion. It was not until after my visits to Tripoli that I learned than an MBDA mission had been in the Libyan capital for a month.

Nicolas Sarkozy promised more transparent diplomacy. Why was the existence of negotiations with EADS not mentioned from the outset? 
We are being accused of lacking in transparency for having failed to discuss a matter that did not concern us! Why should we have said anything about negotiations that had nothing to do with our issues of concern? In any case, MBDA is not a wholly French firm: it is a quadri-national firm owned by the French and Germans via EADS, but also by Britain's BAE and Italy's Finmeccanica. It had been involved in talks with Tripoli for a long time. In July 2006 the CIEEMG (Interministerial Committee for the Inspection of Military Exports) had already authorized MBDA to engage in negotiations with the Libyan authorities.

According to Liberation, Mr Musa Kusa, head of Colonel al-Qadhafi's security services, is the subject of an internal search note issued by Judge Bruguiere in connection with his suspected part in the attack on the UTA DC 10. Have you met with him often in France?
Mr Musa Kusa is not the subject of any search file. He often comes to France, every three months, to meet with his counterparts. I received him twice when In was at the Interior Ministry. The last time was at rue Saint Dominique, a few months before Nicolas Sarkozy's accession to the Elysee. He came to tell me on Mr al-Qadhafi's behalf that the latter wanted to establish more solid relations with France. That was when we thought that progress could be achieved in connection with the nurses dossier. I told him right away that the settlement of that dossier was a precondition for any rapprochement.

Mr al-Qadhafi's half-brother, Abd-Allah al-Sanusi, was sentenced to life imprisonment in France for the attack on the DC 10. According to some sources, the Libyan authorities secured his rehabilitation in exchange for the nurses' release. What are the facts?
That is ridiculous. The judiciary is independent in France. The public authorities can do noting to alter a judicial decision. It is nonsense.

The opposition deplores the supply of nuclear technology, albeit civilian, to a dictatorship.
Libya has not been the subject of an embargo since 2004 and wants to return to the international community. If a country meets all the conditions, should it be deprived of future access to energy?

Socialist leader] Francois Hollande is calling for a parliamentary committee of inquiry. What is your response?
The president has no objection, because we have nothing to hide. This is [Prime Minister] Mr Fillon's opinion, too.