Switzerland on Wednesday said it was ready to lift a travel ban on blacklisted Libyans, a decision that was welcomed by the European Union who had tried to resolve the row, dpa reported.
The move was welcomed by EU foreign policy director Catherine Ashton, who said after a meeting with her Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey, that the EU "expects that the Libyan authorities will react in a positive way and lift the restrictive measures on EU citizens."
In January, Switzerland blacklisted 188 Libyan officials, including leader Moamer Gaddafi, for entry into the 25-member Schengen zone. The move infuriated Libya, but also angered Schengen states who saw it as an unjustified escalation of a bilateral row.
Under the rules of the Schengen zone, any foreigner banned from travelling into one country is automatically shut out from the rest of the zone, unless individual Schengen states issue a special visa valid only for their own territory.
Switzerland's move annoyed other Schengen states, because the blacklisting principle was designed to warn members of travellers who might pose a security threat, not to exert political pressure.
The spat between Libya and Switzerland dates back to 2008 when Gaddafi's son, Hannibal, was arrested in Geneva, allegedly for mistreating his domestic help. The charges were later dropped but Libya retaliated by arresting two Swiss men on visa charges.
The crisis assumed a EU-wide dimension in early 2010. As Switzerland placed Gaddafi and other top officials on the Schengen blacklist, Libya responded by saying it would stop issuing visas to citizens from all Schengen-area countries.
The visa crisis was deeply resented by countries such as Italy, which saw its substantial economic and political interests in Libya being threatened.
The Schengen agreements are applied in all EU countries except Britain, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania, plus in non-EU members Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.