EU Agrees on Economic Sanctions on Libya

The Libyan Investment Authority owns a large number of shares in the Italian Unicredit Bank, which also operates in Bulgaria. File photo

The European Union agreed Tuesday to impose new sanctions on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi's regime, mainly targeting the Libyan Investment Authority.

The Authority is the fund which manages the overseas investments for Tripoli's oil revenues.

The new sanctions are imposed on five business institutions and also pertain to the Libyan Central Bank. They have been agreed on after the deadline for verbal objections has expired, EU diplomats report, cited by the Bulgarian news agency BGNES.

The agreement has been reached when economic experts managed to assuage Malta's fears that the sanctions will have negative effect and consequences for many big European Union companies where the Libyan Investment Fund has significant shares.

The Fund, established in 2006, has a large number of shares in the Italian "Unicredit" Bank, the Italian "Finmeccanica" group, the "Fiat" group and the Juventus Football Club, among others.

Last week, Britain's Pearson group, the publisher of the Financial Times and the Economist, froze of its own account the 3.27% share of its capital owned by the Libyan Investment Authority.

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