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Sunday, February 07, 2010 - 04.40 GMT |
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“Many EU
concerns relating GSP+ addressed”
Sri Lanka has
and will continue to engage on the remaining
issues”
– Ambassador Aryasinha |
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Commenting
on the
’current
status
of GSP+
concessions
to Sri
Lanka’,
Sri
Lanka’s
Ambassador
to
Belgium,
Luxembourg
and the
EU
Ravinatha
Aryasinha
has
said,
“no
formal
decision
on
temporary
suspension
of GSP+
has been
taken by
the
European
Council
at
present”
and that
“a
decision
is
expected
later
this
month”.
“Many of
the
concerns
that had
given
rise to
the
European
Commission’s
psychological
impetus
to
review
Sri
Lanka’s
suitability
for the
continuance
of the
GSP+,
have
already
been
addressed
on the
ground”,
and “Sri
Lanka
has, and
will
continue
to
engage
with the
European
Institutions
in order
to
address
the
remaining
issues
of
concern,
in a
manner
that
does not
compromise
Sri
Lanka’s
national
interest,”
the
Ambassador
added.
He was
commenting
on media
reports
that EU
nations
have
decided
to
suspend
Sri
Lanka's
preferential
trade
status
because
of the
island's
human
rights
record
and will
make the
formal
move
later
this
month.
Noting
that
“many of
the
concerns
that had
given
rise to
the
European
Commission’s
psychological
impetus
to
review
Sri
Lanka’s
suitability
for the
continuance
of the
GSP+,
have
already
been
addressed
on the
ground”,
the
Ambassador
added
that
“Sri
Lanka
has, and
will
continue
to
engage
with the
European
Institutions
in order
to
address
the
remaining
issues
of
concern,
in a
manner
that
does not
compromise
Sri
Lanka’s
national
interest.
Ambassador
Aryasinha
also
sated
that:
“However,
such
engagement
needs to
be on
terms
respectful
of one
another
and with
sincerity
and
purposefulness
by both
parties.
Sri
Lanka
expects
the EU
to do
the
same.
There
should
be no
setting
of
unattainable
targets,
no
shifting
of goal
posts
and no
attempt
to use
Sri
Lanka-EU
relations
to serve
domestic
political
agendas.”
Here is
the full
text of
Ambassador
Aryasinha’s
statement
:
1. No
formal
decision
on
“temporary
suspension”
of GSP+
has been
taken by
the
European
Council.
They
have
time
till
later
this
month.
2.
Clearly
many of
the
concerns
that had
given
rise to
the
European
Commission’s
psychological
impetus
to
review
Sri
Lanka’s
suitability
for the
continuance
of the
GSP+,
have
already
been
addressed
on the
ground.
In such
context,
any
“temporary
suspension”
at this
time
would
amount
to, "
having
taken
the
temperature
of a
patient
when he
has a
fever,
then
pronouncing
him dead
ten
months
later
after he
has
recovered
and is
doing
well."
3. Sri
Lanka
believes
that the
termination
of trade
concessions
such as
GSP+ is
not a
mere
mechanical
process
that can
be done
arbitrarily,
but one
that
should
be
decided
upon
fully
cognizant
of its
associated
political
and
socio-economic
ramifications
at the
time of
doing
it. At a
time
when the
EU has
shown
considerable
understanding
and
willingness
to
accommodate
the
practical
difficulties
faced by
some
current
GSP+
recipient
countries
at
variance
from the
norm
with
respect
to the
27 UN
conventions,
it is
hard to
understand
why the
same
rubric
is not
being
applied
in the
case of
Sri
Lanka.
4. Sri
Lanka
values
its
long-standing
relations
with the
EU, and
has, and
will
continue
to
engage
with the
European
Institutions
in order
to
address
the
remaining
issues
of
concern,
in a
manner
that
does not
compromise
Sri
Lanka’s
national
interest.
However,
such
engagement
needs to
be on
terms
respectful
of one
another
and with
sincerity
and
purposefulness
by both
parties.
Sri
Lanka
expects
the EU
to do
the
same.
There
should
be no
setting
of
unattainable
targets,
no
shifting
of goal
posts
and no
attempt
to use
Sri
Lanka-EU
relations
to serve
domestic
political
agendas.
(EU-
Government
statement)
5. At a
debate
on this
issue
held on
14
January
2010 at
the
European
Parliament’s
International
Trade
Committee
where
the
above
points
were
made,
spokespersons
of the
EPP,
ALDE and
the ECR
(parties
which
represent
the
majority
in the
European
Parliament)
also
pointed
to this
unfair
manner
in which
Sri
Lanka
has been
singled
out from
among
GSP+
recipients
for
unfair
treatment
and
unambiguously
urged
that the
Council
refrain
from
acting
hastily
against
Sri
Lanka on
this
matter.
(EU MEPs
comments)
6. Sri
Lanka
remains
hopeful
that
better
sense
will
prevail
upon
member
countries
of the
EU, who
themselves
have
faced
similar
situations
in their
long
history
and are
acutely
conscious
of the
complexity
of
‘democracies
fighting
terrorism’
– a
phenomenon
Sri
Lanka,
thankfully,
has been
able to
overcome.
Embassy
of Sri
Lanka
Brussels
6
February
2010
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