Foreign affairs chief steps in

EU members Malta and Italy yesterday reiterated their unilateral stance that they will proceed to issue limited territorial validity (LTV) visas to Libyan nationals from April 5 if the row between Switzerland and Tripoli is not resolved by then.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, other EU member states are ready to take the same decision, including some Mediterranean countries. However, none of these have so far declared their official position.

The issue, which has been going on for more than a month, was yesterday discussed at EU level during a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

Though the European Commission last week said it was not in favour of the idea that some member states circumvent the Swiss blacklist of 188 Libyan officials, which includes leader Muammar Gaddafi, Malta and Italy yesterday stood by their decision.

"The rules coming into force on April 5 stipulate that member states in the Schengen area can issue LTV visas in agreement with other member states. This is what we will be doing and we don't need any permission to do so. We are just following the rules," Dr Borg insisted.

Mr Frattini said at least five EU states would be willing to circumvent the Swiss ban if Switzerland itself did not rescind it.

"We need to ask Switzerland to drop this blacklist that is creating many problems to all of the Schengen area," he said. "Italy, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain are all willing to sidestep the ban."

Despite ongoing mediation between Switzerland and Libya, spearheaded by the EU and some member states, particularly Germany, no real progress has been registered.

Admitting the near stalemate, EU Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton yesterday said the EU was to use its full diplomatic weight in the coming days.

"It has been agreed to use the EU's collective weight to make sure both parties make concrete gestures towards solving the row," a spokesman for Lady Ashton said.

"Ms Ashton wants to have a solution as rapidly as possible, given the negative impact this is having on citizens and companies in the EU."

Tomorrow, Lady Ashton is scheduled to meet her Swiss counterpart, Micheline Calmy-Rey on the matter.

According to the Schengen rules, any foreigner banned from travelling into one country is automatically shut out from the rest of the zone, unless individual Schengen states issue a special visa valid only for their own territory. This is what Malta has been doing vis-a-vis Libyans travelling here. According to the Schengen code, which comes into force in two weeks' time, it will be possible to extend the validity of these so-called LTV visas to any Schengen country willing to accept it.

Switzerland's move has annoyed other Schengen states, because the blacklisting principle was designed to warn members about travellers who might pose a security threat, not to exert political pressure.

The spat between Libya and Switzerland dates back to 2008 when Col Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, was arrested in Geneva, allegedly for mistreating his servants. The charges were later dropped but Libya retaliated by arresting two Swiss men on visa charges.

The crisis assumed an EU-wide dimension a few weeks ago when Switzerland placed Col Gaddafi and other top officials on the Schengen blacklist. On its part, Libya responded by saying it would stop issuing visas to citizens from all Schengen countries.