Libya has not yet reacted to the offer by Switzerland to lift the blacklist of 188 top officials who are barred from entering countries in the Schengen region.
The offer was meant on Wednesday in a bid to unblock the stalemate between the two countries, which has affected all the members of the Schengen area, including Malta, as Libya blocked entry into the country to Schengen countries citizens in retaliation.
The European Commission praised the Swiss move and again appealed to Tripoli to reciprocate and withdraw its retaliatory measure.
"We are still awaiting a response from the Libyan authorities over the Swiss positive gesture and we hope the issue will be resolved soon," Michele Cercone, the Commission's justice spokesman, said yesterday.
Welcoming the Swiss move, the Maltese government signalled it too was awaiting the Libyan response.
"We need to give the Libyans more time but we hope the matter is resolved soon," a government spokesman said last night.
The offer was however criticised by a number of Swiss politicians, deeming it an unconditional concession to Libya.
Christa Markwalder, spokesman for the foreign affairs committee of the Swiss Parliament, said she could not make sense of the step, which agreed by the Swiss government and the EU.
"It is a political signal that is difficult to understand given that Switzerland, obviously, did not get anything in return," she told Swiss public radio.
Ms Markwalder said the move was made hoping Swiss businessman Max Göldi, serving a four-month jail term in Libya for visa violations, would be released and that the EU - notably Spain and Germany - would continue their mediation efforts.
Swiss parliamentarian Mario Fehr said it was a risky step by the government. "If Göldi comes free in the foreseeable future I welcome the move but, otherwise, I would see it as a regrettable collective gesture of boot licking," he said.
Following talks in Brussels between the EU's foreign affairs chief, Baroness Catherine Asthon and her Swiss counterpart, Micheline Calmy-Rey on Wed-nesday, the Swiss government said it was willing to lift the ban on entry into and transit through Switzerland for particular Libyan citizens as quickly as possible.
It said that, in return, it expected Libya to lift its entry ban on citizens of countries from the Schengen area and that Mr Goldi would be released.
Over the past weeks, Malta and Italy have applied pressure on Switzerland to lift its ban and also threatened to circumvent the Swiss blacklist by issuing Limited Territorial Visas after April 5 if the issue was not resolved by then.
Many European governments have criticised Switzerland for the ban, which, although permissible under the Schengen agreement, they say was applied inappropriately for political reasons.
The row started in 2008 when the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal, was arrested in Geneva. Although charges were later dropped, Libya retaliated by arresting two Swiss men on visa charges, one still in detention.
Then, a month ago, Switzerland blacklisted Libya's entire ruling elite, including Col Gaddafi, which meant they could not be issued with Schengen visas.