The Ministry of External Affairs is surprised at some of the recent statements on the outcome of the case filed by the LTTE in 2011 at the General Court of the European Union in which the Council of the European Union was the defendant supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the European Commission as interveners. These statements by interested parties are based on an inaccurate premise.
The Ministry of External Affairs wishes to state that from the outset of the case being filed, legal advice and expert opinion were sought from within the European Union system and specialist European lawyers. Accordingly, the Government of Sri Lanka took action in the most effective manner available, by providing material of a substantive nature to the defendant and the interveners on a regular basis. This was in accordance with Sri Lanka being a non-member state of the European Union and having therefore to meet special conditions, contrary to the national interest of Sri Lanka, in order to be allowed to intervene itself in cases before the General Court of the European Union.
In these circumstances the Government of Sri Lanka provided all relevant material to the European Commission in order to assist the Commission to resist the claim by the LTTE.
The defendant and interveners have recourse to an appellate procedure within the stipulated period from the notification of the judgment.
With regard to future action, the named parties have the options of adoption of new restrictive regulations, appeal to the European Court of Justice and national measures by European Union member states. The Government of Sri Lanka has already commenced and will continue to assist the parties to the case in their future course of action, in the interest of protecting its citizens against intimidation through extortion by the remnants of the LTTE and the possible resurgence of terrorism in the country. The government regards this as a matter of the highest priority.
Statement in Sinhala PDF Format
Ministry of External Affairs
Colombo
22 October 2014
