Sources inside Moammar Gadhafi's crumbling regime have told French envoys that the embattled Libyan leader is "prepared to leave."

France's foreign minister revealed Tuesday that Libyan emissaries have reached out to their international contacts about Gadhafi's potential departure.

"We receive emissaries who are saying, ‘Gadhafi is prepared to leave. Let's discuss it,'" Alain Juppe said Tuesday.

But Juppe stressed that the incoming information from the Libyan emissaries did not constitute formal negotiations.

The French foreign minister said that an increasing number of Western countries are now in agreement that Gadhafi's exit from Libya is a necessary condition for bringing hostilities to an end.

"There is a consensus on how to end the crisis, which is that Gadhafi has to leave power," Juppe said. "That (consensus) was absolutely not a given two or three months ago.

"The question is no longer whether Gadhafi is going to leave power, but when and how," he added.

Juppe's comments came on the same day that the French parliament is voting on whether to extend their military involvement in Libya.

The foreign minister also said NATO's ongoing military mission was helping shape the situation on the ground in Libya.

"Contrary to what we might hear, things are evolving in Libya," both from a strategic and political perspective, Juppe said.

NATO began airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces in March as part of a UN-backed mission to protect civilians who were coming under attack from regime forces.

With files from The Associated Press