Vice President of the Committee on Overseas Development of the European Parliament, Niranjan Deva-Aditya (Nirj Dev) condemned more than ten impossible conditions set by the EU to renew Sri Lanka's GSP Plus facility as interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.Deva-Aditya told The Nation that it was up to the parliament, government and people of Sri Lanka to decide on the laws that should govern them and not the business of ex-colonial masters to instruct a former colony what to do.
Deva-Aditya, said it was not the 700 elected fellow MPs of the European Parliament that was making all these demands, but the European Commission (the civil service) at the behest of the European Council (the second chamber) made up of European government ministers.
As far as the demand for complying with the covenants of the ICCPR, he said it was fair since Sri Lanka had signed it some years back. "Since the country has signed the agreement there is no choice but to meet its obligations, but other demands are gross.
Courtesy: President's Media Unit Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order - Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
