{"id":82604,"date":"2018-10-31T07:06:46","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T14:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=82604"},"modified":"2018-10-31T07:06:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T14:06:46","slug":"defiant-sirisena-claims-75-popular-support-as-eu-threatens-trade-sanctions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/10\/31\/defiant-sirisena-claims-75-popular-support-as-eu-threatens-trade-sanctions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Defiant Sirisena claims 75% popular support as EU threatens trade sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Colombo, October 30 (newsin.asia): At the meeting between Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and foreign envoys here on Monday,\u00a0 the European Union (EU) Ambassador \u00a0Tung-Lai Margue warned that if democratic norms and constitutional provisions are not observed in handling\u00a0 the on-going political crisis in Sri Lanka, the EU may consider withdrawing\u00a0 the trade concessions the island nations enjoys under the General System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus).<\/p>\n

According to the International Trade Centre, in 2009, a year before the EU withdrew \u00a0GSP Plus concessions from Sri Lanka on human rights issues,\u00a0 Lanka\u2019s exports to EU were worth US$ 2.3 billion. Despite the withdrawal of GSP Plus, exports expanded thereafter to reach US$ 2.4 billion by 2015.<\/p>\n

But the rate of increase had declined in comparison with other countries including Bangladesh and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\"Defiant<\/p>\n

And between 2010 and 2017, when the GSP Plus was not there, Sri Lanka lost up to LKR 250 billion (US$ 1.45 billion) in export earnings from the EU.<\/p>\n

But as in the case of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2010, Sirisena was unfazed by the EU threat on Monday.<\/p>\n

In 2010, Rajapaksa had dismissed the withdrawal as a matter of no great consequence, when seen against the benefit of fighting the Tamil Tiger rebels to the finish.<\/p>\n

In fact, Sri Lanka\u2019s exports to EU increased, albeit marginally during the ban.<\/p>\n

On the perceived unpopularity or unacceptability of his act of removing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the way he did,\u00a0 Sirisena reportedly said that the Western envoys appeared to be unaware of the pulse of the people\u201d.<\/p>\n

The President suggested that the foreign missions \u00a0get surveys done to ascertain the common man\u2019s thinking, and added the surveys would reveal that 70 to75%\u201d of the people are with him.<\/p>\n

EU Statement<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU had issued a statement saying that the sudden deterioration of the situation in Sri Lanka over the weekend had put the country at risk of instability and unrest.<\/p>\n

Along with other key international partners of Sri Lanka, the Ambassador of the European Union met with the President of Sri Lanka to express our expectation that a solution respectful of the country\u2019s constitution would be found quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

To this end, it is important that the President allows the immediate reconvening of the Parliament so that the elected representatives of the Sri Lankan people can fulfill their duties,\u201d the EU statement said.<\/p>\n

In the current context of tensions and uncertainties, it is of utmost importance that violence and provocation are avoided and that law enforcement agencies act with restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU expects Sri Lanka to pursue its positive path towards reconciliation and democracy for the full benefit of the Sri Lankan people, the statement added.<\/p>\n

This was the refrain of the other envoys from the developed world also. The envoys of non-White countries merely listened to the exchanges between the White block and the President.<\/p>\n

President Sirisena told the envoys that it is best to leave the governance of Sri Lanka to Sri Lankans. The government and the people of Sri Lanka know best what is good for them, he added.<\/p>\n

On the criticism that the ethnic reconciliation process will suffer as a result of the on-going political turmoil and instability, Sirisena said that he is committed to reconciliation\u00a0 and has initiated many steps to bring it about.<\/p>\n

In his presentation lasting more than an hour, the President explained why he could not work with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and why he had hand over the reins to Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

Sirisena said that he is confident that the constitution has provisions which allow him to sack the Prime Minister. A paper written on this written by his lawyer Manohara de Silva was circulated which justified the President\u2019s steps from the legal and constitutional point of view.<\/p>\n

Sirisena also said that he is going to swear-in a new cabinet after the meeting, leaving the foreign envoys with no doubt that Sirisena is determined the tread the path he had chosen on the \u00a0issue of Ranil Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n

(The featured image at the top shows Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena meeting foreign envoys on Oct 29, 2018. Photo. Presidents Media Division)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, October 30 (newsin.asia): At the meeting between Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and foreign envoys here on Monday,\u00a0 the European Union (EU) Ambassador \u00a0Tung-Lai Margue warned that if democratic norms and constitutional provisions are not observed in handling\u00a0 the on-going political crisis in Sri Lanka, the EU may consider withdrawing\u00a0 the trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}