The EU and Libya said on Saturday they will resume granting visas to each others’ citizens, ending tit-for-tat bans imposed in a bitter row between the north African nation and Switzerland.
The Spanish presidency of the EU said all the names of Libyans on a blacklist which banned them from entering the continent’s 25-state Schengen visa zone had been removed.
“The names of Libyan citizens listed on the Schengen zone [blacklist] have been permanently removed,” the EU said in a statement.
Tripoli responded promptly, dropping a retaliatory ban on the issuing of visas to Schengen-zone Europeans, and hailing the EU move as a “defeat” for Switzerland.
“Libya welcomes this statement and announced the immediate lifting” of the entry ban for nationals of Schengen member countries, a Libyan official said on condition of anonymity.
“Switzerland was defeated by the common European position,” Libya’s foreign ministry said later in a statement.
The ministry also confirmed Libya “would lift restrictions which were imposed on the citizens of member countries of the EU that are in the Schengen area.”
Switzerland and Libya have been embroiled in a diplomatic row since July 2008 after the brief arrest in Geneva of Libyan leader Muammer Qaddafi’s son Hannibal when two workers complained he had mistreated them.
In a statement issued in Madrid, Spain’s foreign ministry said it regretted problems the Schengen blacklist caused Libyans.
“This measure [the blacklist] was taken by a member of Schengen, not by the EU, which played no role in this. We are sorry and deplore what happened and the problems caused Libyan citizens,” it said.
“We hope that an event like this is not repeated in the future. We confirm our desire to foster good relations between the EU and Libya,” it said.
The Schengen borderless travel zone groups 22 EU nations plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, a former EU Middle East envoy, flew to Libya on Saturday in a fresh bid to end the spat between Libya and Switzerland and urge that Tripoli free a Swiss national, Max Goeldi.
The dispute escalated when Libya detained Goeldi and another Swiss businessman, and Switzerland hit back by issuing the blacklist that prevented some prominent Libyans from entering the Schengen zone.
As the Swiss blacklist must be applied by all countries in the Schengen area, the move drew the EU into the dispute. Libya retaliated by denying entry visas to Schengen-zone citizens.
Goeldi has been blocked from leaving the country since July 2008 and is serving a jail term in Tripoli for visa offences.
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