Sri Lanka welcomes the decision of the Council of the European Union to appeal the judgement of the General Court of the European Union of 16 October 2014, which annulled measures taken by the Council to designate the LTTE as a terrorist organization and the freezing of LTTE funds.
The action taken by the Council of the European Union demonstrates commitment for the fight against terrorism at a time when this threat is increasingly posing a significant challenge to global peace and stability, necessitating a collective and vigorous international effort to counter.
Sri Lanka has worked closely with the EU and its Member States in investigations against activities on EU territory by networks of the LTTE, which remains proscribed in the USA, Canada, India, the UK and Sri Lanka and impressed the urgent need for action to be taken to maintain the proscription. It is encouraging that the decision by the Council of the European Union to appeal, suspends the effects of the judgement until the completion of the appeal process, particularly given the continued activities of the LTTE networks in Europe.
It is also noted that in order to avoid possible annulments in the future, the EU institutions are continuing to study further remedial action that may be taken with regard to this legal ruling, which was clearly based on procedural grounds, as stated by the General Court itself, and did not imply any assessment by the Court of the substantive issues of the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization or of the freezing of LTTE funds.
Sri Lanka remains committed to provide assistance to the EU in their future course of action in this regard.
Ministry of External Affairs
Colombo
2 December 2014
