News | Sunday, 28 March 2010

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Libya drops ban on visas

Tripoli has dropped its ban on granting visas to Europeans living in the Schengen zone, after the EU presidency announced a reciprocal move for Libyan travellers.
The announcement brings to an end the month-long dispute that affected hundreds of Maltese workers and businessmen who were not allowed access to Libya.
The Libyan ban was in retaliation to a Schengen area blacklist drawn up by Switzerland against Libyan officials.
Spain’s Foreign Ministry said it regretted that the Libyans had been blacklisted for travel to the Schengen passport-free zone and said the blacklist had now been scrapped. “All the names of the Libyan citizens included in the list of the Schengen information system have been removed,” the ministry said in a statement.
Spain currently holds the presidency of the EU.
Malta had warned that unless the blacklist was removed and the issue was resolved by April 5, it would bypass Schengen and start issuing limited territory visas to Libyan nationals valid for countries which joined it in such an arrangement.Italy and Spain had backed the Maltese position.

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