Italy v. Libya

Authorities in Italy, Libya’s main trading partner, are set to meet to consider freezing assets linked to Muammar Qaddafi and his family, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Financial Security Committee, chaired by Treasury Director General Vittorio Grilli and including representatives of the government, the central bank, regulators and intelligence services, will meet in Rome tomorrow, they said, declining to be named in line with policy. The meeting precedes a formal decision to freeze assets tied to Qaddafi, they added.

The European Union agreed on Feb. 28 to implement a resolution by the United Nations on Libya, imposing an arms embargo and freezing the assets of Qaddafi and close associates. The EU may widen sanctions to include more individuals as well as possibly organizations, an EU official in Brussels said today on condition of anonymity. While the governments of Spain, Austria and Germany have announced measures to implement the EU decision, Italy has so far stopped short of freezing assets.

Italy “is applying exactly what was agreed on internationally,” Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti told reporters in Istanbul today, according to Ansa newswire. “We have applied the UN resolution and in Europe we are discussing” widening the sanctionsItaly