Gödöllõ, 25/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The ambassadors of the EU27 at the Political and Security Committee agreed in the afternoon of Friday 25 February on sanctions against the Libyan authorities in response to the violent repression used by the regime of Colonel Gaddafi to cling on to power. These sanctions, which certain sources believe could enter into force “early next week”, consist of the freezing of assets and visa bans against those behind the bloodthirsty repression of the opposition movement, but the precise list of those it will affect has not yet been created. The EU27 have also decreed an embargo on weapons and on material which could be used to repress demonstrations. The details of the measures will shortly be finalised by the experts of the EU. The decision may be adopted formally on Monday 28 February, under the emergency procedure (using the silent procedure).
The situation in Libya dominated the informal meeting of the European Defence Ministers in Gödöllõ (Hungary) on 24-25 February, first of all at the ministers' dinner on Thursday, by request of Catherine Ashton, to see, as she told the press conference, 'how we can pool our resources to evacuate our nationals”. It also dominated talks on Friday between the ministers of the EU and the secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The United Nations Security Council, which held an extraordinary meeting on Friday, is set on Monday to adopt a resolution on Libya, which is believed to contain elements of a coordinated response. The question of creating a no-fly zone, which may feature among the measures, remains open. It is, however, still in consideration in the EU's planning process, according to European diplomats. This option was raised the day before by French Defence Minister Alain Juppé, and by his American opposite number Robert Gates, but the latter added that the European forces, particularly the French and Italian ones, were the best placed to carry out this mission. As of Friday, it was still not clear whether all member states of the EU were in agreement with this proposal.
Upstream of the meeting, Catherine Ashton said that the EU was prepared to support any decision of the UN. However, she ruled out any military commitment on the part of the EU in Libya. “I don't think at this point there's any discussion about any sort of military action about Libya”, she told the press. “We're looking to the lead of the UN Security Council”, she continued, adding that she and the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, “are working closely together”. She went on to say that she would be speaking to her American counterpart, Hillary Clinton, later on that day (a meeting of the heads of European and American diplomacy is scheduled for Monday; on Saturday, Ashton is set to meet Clinton's deputy). The objective is to “synchronise properly what we are doing in the European Union and what's happening in the international community”, she said. “In everything we do, our objectives remain the same: to seek peaceful dialogue” and re-establish democracy in Libya and the region.
“The people in Libya, just like people from other countries, must own this process”, she said. The secretary general of NATO also called a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) for Friday afternoon, devoted solely to the issue of Libya. The day before, however, any intervention of NATO forces in Libya was ruled out. He explained that “evacuation and humanitarian assistance”, fields in which NATO “has useful resources”, should be the priority at this stage, he told the press.
According to the high representative of the EU, there are still 3,000 European citizens in Libya. “Many of them have dual nationality and do not wish to leave the country”, she said after the meeting. The latest figures available on the evacuation talk of some 3,600 evacuees. A number of member states, among them Italy, France, Germany and Greece, have mobilised their own military resources to bring their nationals home. Others, such as Poland and Malta, have opened up access for the repatriation of people irrespective of their nationality. Coordination has been facilitated by Thursday's activation of the moving and planning cell within the EU staff, tasked with identifying the military transport capacities available for any evacuation missions. As the high representative has stressed on many occasions, the situation on the ground “remains terrible” for consular staff as well. The expert missions announced by the European Commission earlier this week to assess the humanitarian situation have reached the borders of Tunisia and Egypt - the two states which have been the most affected by the wave of migrants from Libya. So far, no migratory flow into the EU has been observed. There will also be an EU mission to Tripoli. (A.By./transl.fl)