UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe queried in Parliament yesterday why the government had agreed with the European Union to allow it to conduct an internal, investigation to secure the continuance of the GSP+ facility for Sri Lanka.

The government has allowed the EU to conduct an investigation last October, now it talks of sovereignty and independence, he said.

He said that jobs of hundreds thousands of employees in the apparel industry could be saved if the government acts even now. It has to sort out this problem by means of implementing the 17th Amendment to the Constitution fully, guaranteeing media freedom, and deal with Internally Displaced Persons in welfare camps through legal means, he said.

Wickremesinghe said that the opposition was needy to support the government to renew of the GSP+ facility. "If an internal investigation by the EU would threaten the sovereignty of this country, then why has this government submitted an application to the EU last October agreeing to such an investigation," he queried.