EU drafts package of sanctions against Libyan leaders
BRUSSELS. February 24. KAZINFORM The European Union has drafted a package of sanctions against the Libyan leaders, who are to blame for repressions against their own nation, a senior official from the EU Council told Itar-Tass on Thursday. "The sanctions may be imposed soon, perhaps within a few days," he said; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
By today permanent representatives of 27 EU member countries agreed to impose a ban on the entry to Europe of members of the Gaddafi clan and of his closest associates, and to freeze their bank assets. A black list of the Libyan officials is being drafted. Consensus has been reach concerning the embargo on the deliveries to Libya of weapons, munitions and police equipment. A legal form of the resolution is being worked out. Aside from it, EU reported on Tuesday that it was stopping negotiations with the Gaddafi regime on privileged partnership of Libya and EU.
The European Commission served notice last Wednesday that it was considering another "tough" version of the sanctions - the refusal to purchase oil and gas from Libya, whose deliveries account for 9.6 and 2.7 per cent of EU imports respectively, and for 85 per cent of the overall Libyan exports.
Germany and France, which are the biggest EU member states, have openly declared already that after the shooting down of demonstrators in Libya they no longer regard Gaddafi as a lawful partner in a dialogue with EU. Even Italy, whose colony Libya was some time ago and which maintained good relations with it, turned its back on Gaddafi.
"The man is sick and very dangerous," Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, said after viewing Gaddafi's TV address to the nation, in which he said that he was going to fight to the last bullet. "He started genocide against his own nation."
In this connection consultations began in the European capitals on holding an independent investigation and on bringing to international trial those guilty of the massacre, although the measures have not yet been made public as an official EU policy.
Evaluating the situation from the humanitarian point of view, the European Commission said Libya was facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Southern EU countries, primarily Italy, are getting prepared for a dramatic inflow of immigrants. Italy's Mediterranean islands are already overcrowded with illegal immigrants from Tunisia and Egypt.