The European Union is set to suspend trade privileges for Sri Lanka next week after an investigation by the European Commission found that the country had violated the human-rights provisions of the trade scheme, known as GSP+. 

Finance ministers from the Union’s member states will endose the suspension when they meet in Brussels on Tuesday (16 February). The suspension, which will take effect six months after the decision, will oblige Sri Lankan exporters – primarily in the textile sector – to pay tens of millions of euros each year in additional duties.

The Commission recommended on 15 December that member states suspend the preferential trade terms after a Commission report published in October found “significant shortcomings” in Sri Lanka’s compliance with its human-rights commitments under the scheme. The GSP+ gives 16 developing countries access to the EU’s markets at preferential conditions in return for implementing international conventions on human rights, labour standards, sustainable development and good governance.

External reports

The Commission’s investigation relied primarily on reports by the United Nations and by non-governmental groups. Diplomats involved in preparing the suspension said that the decision had not been controversial with EU member states. One of the diplomats said that the decision was technical rather than political. “There is a regulation with a process and clear criteria,” he said. “Sri Lanka simply has not lived up to its side of the bargain.”

‘Double standards’

Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the EU, has accused the Union of double standards. He said that the Union had shown “considerable understanding” and a “willingness to accommodate the practical difficulties faced by some current GSP+ recipient countries” but now refused to do the same with his country. He said that Sri Lanka’s performance had to be judged in the context of a “democracy fighting terrorism”.

The Commission’s recommendations were made just months after Sri Lanka’s armed forces crushed a decades-old Tamil insurgency last May. Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president, called an early presidential election to capitalise on the victory over the Tamil Tigers, but the campaign turned bitter when Sarath Fonseka resigned as army chief to challenge the incumbent. Fonseka was soundly defeated on 26 January, when Rajapaksa won by an 18% margin, and was arrested on charges of plotting a coup on Tuesday (9 February).

On Tuesday (9 February), Rajapaksa dissolved the national parliament, effectively calling a general election two months ahead of schedule. The move suggests that Rajapaksa hopes to capitalise on his sweeping victory in the presidential race.

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