Editorial

The retaliation and counter-retaliation by Libya and Switzerland involving countries in the Schengen area is a classic case of the butterfly effect in politics. The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's flapping wings in one part of the world creates tiny but incremental changes in the atmosphere that lead, ultimately, to their altering the path of a tornado in a different part.

In July 2008, Muammar Gaddafi's son and his heavily pregnant wife were arrested and placed in custody by the Swiss police for alleged assault on their servants. Libya immediately retaliated with reprisals against Swiss companies in Libya, cut oil shipments to Switzerland and withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss bank accounts. The Swiss then dropped the charges against Col. Gaddafi's son. In April 2009, the Gaddafis sued the Swiss government over the wrongful arrest of the couple and demanded compensation. By December 2009, two Swiss businessmen in Libya had been sentenced to jail terms on conviction of immigration offences. On February 7 this year, the case against the businessmen was dismissed by a Libyan court.

There the matter might have rested. But, since the two businessmen had still not been released, Switzerland drew up a visa blacklist naming 188 high-ranking Libyans, including Col. Gaddafi himself and his family, denying them visa entry permits. Libya then decided to stop issuing visas to citizens from EU countries forming part of the Schengen zone in retaliation against Switzerland, which is not an EU member state.

For those countries, such as Malta, Italy and Austria and others with close business and other links with Libya, the effects of this game of tit-for-tat are serious. Italy and Austria are investing heavily in Libya's oil sector and Italy has established new-found "friendship" with the North African country after agreeing to compensate it financially for its colonial past.

Italy and Malta are, however, also inevitably in the EU front line with Libya. Maltese businessmen working in Libya have found themselves barred from entry there and at least one was kept locked up for up to 20 hours before being sent back to Malta.

The situation cannot therefore be described in any other way but as being unacceptable and disruptive to Malta-Libya relations. Ironically, this situation emerged just weeks after it was announced that Col. Gaddafi would be visiting Malta in March.

Although, following a meeting bet-ween the Foreign Ministers of Italy, Malta and Libya in Rome on Wednesday, there seemed to be some hope of breaking the deadlock, the situation remains worrying for Malta at several levels.

Maltese interests have been caught in the crossfire between Libya and its European neighbours once more. Libya, which tends to enjoy exerting its influence on the world stage - almost regardless of the consequences, some may want to add - insists on being placated. The treatment of the two Swiss businessmen has, as expected, caused outrage in Switzerland.

In the final analysis, reason as well as realpolitik must prevail. In achieving this, it is important to ensure that EU solidarity is not again undermined. The EU - although itself affected by the fall-out - must seek a resolution to the problem, which finds common ground between two non-EU countries, based not on narrow, legalistic interpretations of the Schengen agreement, but on humanity and common sense.