The European Union appears to have taken a page out of Shakespeare and is, like Shylock, demanding its pound of flesh unless we conform to their demands. Their demand, in this instance comes all dressed up in very moral attire, namely the conforming with treaties and obligations pertaining to Human Rights.

I have read with interest how two unelected Commissioners Mandelson and Ferrero-Waldner (they are only officials of the European Commission) cut loose and read the riot act to a minister of an elected government. They would not have dared to open their mouths had it been India or for that matter, had they faced a Mahathir or a Lee Kwan Yu. In this instance, they had an opportunity to show how brave they were against a vulnerable country.

It may even be said who could fault them when they take such high moral ground, but I can only quote to them from the Gospels (Matthew 7) "Why then do you look at the mote in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the mote in your own eye; first cast out the mote from thine own eye then thou shall see clearly to cast out the mote in thy brother’s eye".

I would commend this particularly to Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who was the principal advisor to former Prime Minister Blair during the Bosnian war, when he and his government did not intervene whilst the Serbs slaughtered the Muslims whose only crime was being Muslim. His government is indulging in killing innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan when the British poodle followed the US into their holy war against Iraq on the pretext that Saddam, whom they had assisted in his war against Iran, possessed WMDs.

They are said to be seeking to establish Democracy in war lord country - Afghanistan! Commissioner Mandelson should answer the man in the mirror before he threatens others. As for Benita Ferrero- Waldner, she as Durand Appuhamy had stated recently, hails from Austria, which country recently held a national vigil to expiate themselves from the shame of having collaborated with Hitler. Does she now seek to help Hitler Prabhakaran achieve his Eelam? Yes let he or her who is without sin cast the first stone. Are the representatives of the EU countries in Sri Lanka indulging in duplicity when they state "We don’t negotiate with terrorists, we will stay in Iraq even if it takes a hundred years." It is these same folk that preach to us "stop fighting and negotiate or else...."!!! No GSP Plus is it?

So to the issue of GSP plus, a facility which we have enjoyed since 2005 and is coming up for review this year - GSP Plus confers a comprehensive advantage and gives us a competitive edge; the garment industry won this concession because of the exemplary manner in which it treated labour in particular and because of the working conditions in our factories. The industry today contributes over forty five percent of our export earnings, employs over three hundred and fifty thousand (350 000) directly and a similar number find employment indirectly – this would mean that almost one million people, inclusive of families, are dependent on this industry for their sustenance.

High inflation coupled with high interest rates, high cost of power which has increased production costs makes it difficult to remain competitive against such countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam now that the EU is seeking to kill off this industry. It has been struggling to stay alive and this vulnerability is being exploited without doubt for political ends by the EU. It is an accepted fact that there is no love lost between this elected government of ours and the western countries as represented by the EU, which is using the Human Rights platform to make things difficult and if possible, to bring down the government. Is the EU seeking to bring upon us a man made political ‘Nargis’ to destroy this country?

To my mind the government has also played into the hands of the EU. There are two incidents in particular in Trincomalee which are being laid at the door of the government. There is absolutely no doubt that, unlike in Chile of Pinochet or in Argentina of the generals, it is not the policy of the government to violate human rights but as the EU itself should know better, it does happen during a disturbed situation as that which exists in this country today. But that certainly is no excuse. Indulging in any cover-up or shielding anyone cannot be countenanced. The crimes alleged were not committed at the instance of the government and should not be foisted on it.

My thoughts go back to that massacre at Kokadaicholai and the then government’s efforts to shield the perpetrators. The fall out of that crime was that the whole country paid for a crime committed by a few.

The government needs to change its approach to the problem. Two and a half years have elapsed since it came into office and yet there is no sign of any proposals forthcoming (despite the best efforts of Minister Vitarana) to address the Tamil issue; the political will appears to be absent. The ideal situation which would have won for this country the support of the international community would have been to place before the country the government’s proposals after having obtained the endorsement of India in particular and the rest of the international community with whom we have close relations. If the LTTE rejected them, we would have had the support of the world to crush the insurgency.

To revert to the GSP Plus, it appears that the matter is being laid at the door of Minister GL Peiris, the Minister for International Trade. Whilst it is on the surface a trade related issue, it is also a political issue with huge social ramifications and has the potential to wreck the economy of this country. The Minister for Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, is also an important player. It is therefore obvious that our strategy to deal with this present crisis needs to be a coordinated team effort involving many important ministries of the government. The foreign ministry needs to also play a huge role, but with the differences we hear about, is a coordinated effort, which is an absolute imperative, possible?

These times remind me of the manner in which President Premadasa dealt with a difficult HR situation and when the European Commission was not prepared to grant adequate quotas to make his 200 garment factory programme a success. He, it would be recalled, implemented 31 of the proposals submitted by Amnesty International; he also established a Human Rights Task Force with a retired Supreme Court Justice Sosa as head. Sosa did quite a fantastic job and won credibility in the eyes of the international community. The result was that Sri Lanka received much higher quotas at a time when the EU had decided that at best there would only be a roll over.

In the present situation of the 27 international conventions covering labour rights(our proud slogan in the US was "Garments without guilt") the environment and many other issues, it is only on good governance and human rights that we have been found wanting. So in the first instance the government needs to get its act together in a transparent and credible manner with regard to the protection of human rights. If legislation needs to be introduced even the UNP has gone on record that it would support the government to get a two third majority.

Next, we need to mount a huge diplomatic offensive. This certainly is not a matter that should be unfairly the responsibility of Minister Bogollagama alone, just as much as obtaining the GSP Plus concession is not the sole responsibility of Professor Peiris ( though he has been making a valiant effort). Perhaps the President should act as President Premadasa would have done in the circumstances. All concerned ministers would have to work as a team with a coherent strategy.

We need to get the support of India and perhaps the US. I have no doubt that support would be forthcoming as the last thing India for instance, would wish to see is this country being plunged into chaos. We need also to reach out to the 25 countries of the EU and the European Parliament and in this regard India and other friendly countries would no doubt be able to help.

Since this is a national issue I was extremely pleased to note the positive attitude of the leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has stated that he would be visiting Brussels to lend a hand. This is indeed how we expect responsible leaders to act. Let us put aside our differences and come together when the country is faced with a perilous situation. Too many livelihoods are at stake and we cannot allow the EU to wreak disaster on us merely because we have become hostage on account of the imperative need to protect our garment industry.