Niet alle EU-lidstaten het eens met aanpak Libië in visa-rel (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Ministers in Europe's passport-free Schengen area are divided in evaluating how Switzerland used the Schegen system in its diplomatic row with Libya.
Interior ministers at a debate on Thursday (25 February) called on both Bern and Tripoli to "redouble their diplomatic efforts" in order to end a dispute which has now had an impact on almost all EU countries - except Great Britain, Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania, which are not part of Schengen.
"We expressed support for Switzerland, which is a member of the Schengen area," Spanish interior minister Alfredo Rubalcaba, who chaired the talks, said during a press conference.
At the request of Italy and Malta, ministers discussed the way Switzerland used the area's blacklisting system and if this measure was appropriate in a bilateral row with Libya.
The dispute started in July 2008, when Geneva police detained Hannibal Gaddafi, the notoriously violent son of the Libyan leader, along with his wife, after his staff filed a complaint about having been beaten up. Both were released on bail a day later, but Tripoli launched a salvo of economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Swiss.
When two Swiss businessmen were arrested and denied exit from Libya, Bern blacklisted 180 Libyans, including the Gaddafi family, which means that they can no longer be issued a Schengen visa. They can receive, however, national visas from any European countries. Tripoli has subsequently imposed a visa ban on all Schengen states.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday, Swiss justice minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf defended the blacklisting move. "We feel, as a member of the Schengen area, we were allowed to do it," she said.
Diplomats say blacklisting is a common procedure and the Swiss did inform the other countries about the move. But Italy now presses for stricter rules and "political consultation" ahead of such steps.
Italian interior minister Roberto Maroni said Bern had no right to "use the Schengen system to put political pressure" on another country.
Italy has recently upgraded its relations with the northern African state in order to help interrupt the flow of irregular migrants across the Mediterranean - a move which prompted fierce criticism from human rights groups.
In a separate press briefing on Thursday, Mr Maroni said that if the row is not solved "there is a risk that Libya slows down its crackdown on illegal immigration."
Meanwhile, Mr Gaddafi, who has ruled the country for 41 years and was for a long time considered a rogue leader, has called for a boycott by Muslims against the Alpine country because of its recent ban on the construction of new mosques.
"Let us wage jihad against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression," he said during a meeting marking the birthday of the prophet Muhammad: "Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against Muhammad, God and the Koran."
In a referendum last November, 57.5 percent of Swiss voters approved a constitutional ban on the building of minarets. An appeal against the ban has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.