Swiss prepared to lift travel ban on Libyans - Malta welcomes statement
Malta this evening welcomed a Swiss government statement that it is prepared to lift its blacklist of Libyan travellers coming into the Schengen area.
"Malta is satisfied that the voice of reason is leading to positive results," Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said, adding that he hoped all pending issues would now be resolved.
The Swiss blacklist of 188 senior Libyan officials, applicable to all Schengen area countries, had led to retaliation by Libya, which stopped all visas issued to travellers from Schengen member states, including Malta.
Malta had been among countries which had criticised the Swiss decision, saying Schengen rules had been wrongly applied for political reasons. Foreign Minister Tonio Borg on Monday warned that unless the issue was resolved by April 5, Malta would bypass the Schengen agreement by issuing limited territory visas to Libyan visitors, valid only between countries which agreed with such an arrangement. Italy and Spain had appeared to back the proposal.
Switzerland made its offer this evening within mediation efforts by the European Union.
"The government is prepared, within the framework of the European Union mediation, to lift the ban on certain categories of Libyan citizens," the Swiss government said in a statement. "It expects Libya to lift its travel ban for citizens from the Schengen area."
Swiss government spokesman Andre Simonazzi said the statement encompassed all the categories on the Swiss blacklist, but did not clarify whether Switzerland would only lift its travel ban if Libya took similar measures.
"It is up to you to interpret the statement," he said.
Libya's dispute with Switzerland began in July 2008 when police in Geneva arrested Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Hannibal on charges, later dropped, of mistreating two domestic employees.
Gaddafi's son was released shortly after his arrest, but Libya cut oil supplies to Switzerland, withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts and arrested two Swiss businessmen working in the North African country.
One businessman has been released but the other, Goeldi, is serving a four-month prison sentence.
"Switzerland's goal remains Max Goeldi's release. In order to achieve this, the government is prepared to continue negotiations on the basis of proposals by the two European mediators," the Swiss government said.
Libya says the Geneva arrest and the case of the two businessmen are not linked.
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Peter Tate
Mar 25th 2010, 13:45
I am thinking of a scenario like this: One of Ghadaffis sons, Hannibal, mistreats one of his servants while staying in a Maltese hotel. The Maltese police intervents. Hannibal is "offended". As a retaliation, his father Muammar takes some Maltese workers in Libya as hostages. Would the Maltese government renounce to counter-measures, in order not to risk Italy's business interests?
Peter Paul Borg
Mar 25th 2010, 08:18
I'll believe it when it happens. The Swiss are trying to save their faces but are lost and clearly don't know the way forward.
In the meantime, we wait to hear from the Swiss how they will compensate the thousands of people and their families, who through no fault of their own, were negatively affected, both psychologically and financially, through this episode.
T.Vella
Mar 25th 2010, 07:50
Switzerland is not even EU member and it should be banned from Schengen Area once and for all as I'm sure there will be other disputes in the future. Even if this issue is solved today see how much business and money have been lost for for the Maltese working in Libya, are we going to be compensated for the loses from the EU ???
Ramon Casha
Mar 25th 2010, 05:50
Good news, but I think the Schengen governments must still address this issue, since it might happen again. The visa ban should only be used to address security threats, not for political bickering.
Martin Cassar
Mar 25th 2010, 03:03
This is very positive news indeed. No country likes to remain alone in the cold under such global economical uncertainties. The USA ambassador to Tripoli have read the economical cloudy weather forecast and promptly apologized to the Libyan government within few hours after ‘mocking’ the Col. of Libya.
Is this the end of the dispute? Yes and No.
Soon business as usual. However the other side of ‘Jihad’ still on until the Swiss government goes shorter than the minarets and understand that they [the Swiss] have set a dangerous precedent by using Schengen rules as a political tool and equally ugly putting human rights related matters into referendum.
The Col. of Libya while very calmly dwelling in his tent and without waging ‘wars’ have 'managed' to use his [LONG] oil pipes to divide the EU and most importantly putting at risk the very notion of solidarity between the countries that apply the Schengen rules.
Good night. Now I am off to kip and I wish my friend @lgalea to continue on how he sees EU solidarity would work in the future, only if something like this ever existed!
Peter Paul Borg
Mar 24th 2010, 22:00
Switzerland has WRONGLY used Schengen as a political tool and we are all suffering because of that.
lgalea
Mar 24th 2010, 21:20
Switzerland is only moving from their irresponsible intransigence because they saw that all the SCHENĠENN countries were against them for involving them in their issue which was blown out of all proportions.
M Cassar
Mar 24th 2010, 20:46
Good news. Let's hope a compromise is found and our workers allowed to continue working in Libya.