GENEVA: Switzerland defended Sunday its ban on some Libyans traveling in Europe’s Schengen zone, which the EU has lifted and apologized for, saying it was based on security needs and was within rules.
The European Union announced on Saturday that it had scrapped the ban, removing the names of prominent Libyans from a blacklist that barred them from entering the 25-state Schengen visa zone.
In an e-mailed reaction to AFP, the Swiss foreign ministry said it had imposed the ban after two Swiss citizens were "kidnapped" in 2009.
It was referring to the detention in Tripoli of two Swiss businessman in a tit-for-tat row after a son of Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi was briefly detained in Geneva in 2008 when domestic workers complained of mistreatment.
"As a result, the Federal Council (government) had decided for public and national security reasons, to ban the entry and transit of certain categories of Libyan citizens," the foreign ministry statement said.
"As an associate member, Switzerland had applied the rules of Schengen in vigor, conforming to legal demands, as the European Commission had also clearly confirmed," it said.
The Swiss blacklist had to be applied by all countries in the Schengen area, drawing the EU into the dispute. Libya retaliated by denying entry visas to Schengen-zone citizens.
Under EU mediation, Switzerland said Wednesday it would lift the ban and that it expected Tripoli to reciprocate.
On Saturday Brussels and Tripoli said they would resume granting visas to each others’ citizens.
"We are sorry and deplore what happened and the problems caused to Libyan citizens," said the foreign ministry of Spain, currently the EU president.
One of the Swiss businessmen held in Libya was released in February.
But Max Goeldi, a representative of Swiss company ABB in Libya, has been blocked from leaving the country since July 2008 and is serving a four-month jail term in Tripoli for visa offences.
The Swiss foreign ministry also stressed its intention to secure the release Goeldi.
