The European parliament adopted a resolution June 10 calling for the repeal of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and inviting the European Union (EU) Commission to consider temporarily withdrawing Sri Lanka’s access to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) concession.
Expressing deep concern over Sri Lanka’s “alarming path towards the recurrence of grave human rights violations” as listed by the most recent UN report on the country, the 705-member EU parliament adopted the resolution with 628 votes in favour, 15 against and 40 abstaining.
Citing the UN report, the EU parliament noted early warning signs of “accelerating militarisation of civilian governmental functions, the reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, exclusionary rhetoric, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws”.
Noting the GSP+ concession’s “significant contribution” to Sri Lanka’s economy, from which exports to the island’s second largest export market have increased to EUR 2.3 billion, the parliament called on the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) to take into due account current events when assessing Sri Lanka’s eligibility for GSP+ status.
Sri Lanka’s preferential access to the European market sees trade tariffs significantly removed for some 66 percent of island nation’s exports including apparel, fisheries, ceramic and rubber.
Sri Lanka regained access to GSP+ in May 2017 on the condition that the country would commit to implementing 27 international conventions on human rights and other aspects of good governance.
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