EU prepares sanctions against Qaddafi regime
Options include asset freezes and visa bans as Sarkozy and Merkel lead, while Italy follows.
The European Union is preparing sanctions against the regime of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader for four decades, in retaliation for the violence used against demonstrators this week. Ambassadors yesterday (23 February) discussed options, including freezing the assets of Qaddafi and his close associates and denying them visas.
Member states’ political and security ambassadors reached “political agreement” last night to impose the sanctions on Qaddafi and his supporters, according to EU diplomats, but did not decide on the precise details. A formal decision could follow as early as today, an EU official said.
Bilateral trade
The member states are also reviewing their bilateral trade and political ties with Libya, he said
The leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been pushing to impose sanctions on Libya after Qaddafi threatened to crush opponents.
Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, said yesterday that he would ask “European partners to rapidly adopt concrete sanctions so that those who are implicated in the violence know that they must bear the consequences of their actions”. He cited the “possibility of making people face justice, blocking access to the European Union, and the surveillance of financial movements”.
Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said yesterday: “If the use of violence doesn’t stop, Germany will call for us to use all avenues of pressure and influence on Libya.”
Diplomats said that Italy, which had opposed measures during a meeting of member states’ foreign ministers in Brussels on Sunday (20 February), had changed its position in view of the violence in Libya and of Qaddafi’s threats against his own people in a televised speech on Tuesday.
The college of European commissioners discussed Libya at its weekly meeting yesterday. A spokesperson said that there was a consensus among the commissioners that Qaddafi “cannot go on threatening his people with violence”.
A spokesperson said that the member states had suspended all arms shipments to Libya. In 2009, the member states had granted licences for arms exports to Libya worth €343 million, with about half that figure resulting in actual exports, according to an EU report published last month.
EU condemnation
Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said yesterday: “We strongly condemn the violence and use of force against civilians and deplore the repression against peaceful demonstrators, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. These brutal mass violations of human rights are unacceptable.”
Ashton welcomed the statement by the United Nations’ Security Council approved on 22 February, which called on the Libyan government to meet its responsibility to protect its population and to respect human rights and international humanitarian law. She also welcomed the Security Council’s call for an independent investigation into events in Libya and the holding of a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on 25 February.
Surging oil prices
Oil prices have surged to their highest levels for 30 months on fears that supplies of gas and oil would be affected by the unrest. International oil companies have started withdrawing staff and shutting down production sites because of safety fears. Some analysts believe that Libyan energy exports could be reduced by as much as a fifth. Others estimate that oil production has already been halved.