A press conference was held on the 1st of November with the following European Union delegates, Ms. Jean Lambert (UK) Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Countries of South Asia, Mr. Sajjad Karim (UK), Mr. Thomas Mann (Germany) and Ms. Ulrike Müller (Germany).
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GSP+ and how Sri Lanka can obtain it was the main focus. They said that they will be looking at issues concerning, human rights, environmental rights, labor rights, reconciliation, prevention of terrorism act, code of criminal procedure specially issues around uncorroborated confession being sufficient for criminal conviction, access to a lawyer and they also say that they are concerned about gender equality and the lack of female representation in politics. There are 27 conventions (19 Human Rights conventions, 6 Labor conventions and 2 Environmental conventions) that Sri Lanka must undergo in order to obtain GSP+. They are happy with the progress in the missing persons cases but they are concerned about the reconciliation process within the country. The Eurpoen Union delegates told the reporters that they had discussions with the government on constitutional reform proposals, which are to be published and released to the public at the end of the month.
Once the application for GSP+ has been submitted by the Sri Lankan government and the European parliament will look at it and it will also be sent for inspection to the European Trade Committee, finally a vote will be taken by the European parliament on whether Sri Lanka can obtain GSP+ or not. The EU team told the gathering that they have an organized system with a certain time frame and a certain evaluation system, so that the granting of GSP+ is fair. On the 12th of January 2017 the EU commission will submit a proper opinion on what needs to be done in order to obtain GSP+.