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Article: the price of principle
7 April 2010
Is the EU really committed to using its influence to promote and protect its values in its international relations?
Indeed, is it capable of doing so?
What price is it willing to pay in its wider relations for these ideals?
And if, in the changing global environment, it is not, or it cannot, is anyone else going to?
In February, the EU announced that Sri Lanka’s GSP+ status will be suspended in response to overwhelming evidence that the government was falling well short of its obligations under a number of key international conventions.
Getting this right matters, and not only for the future of Sri Lanka. Other recipients of this special trade status – Azerbaijan, Colombia and Honduras among them – will be watching this test case with interest. It is likely to shape their assessments of whether the human rights component of the EU’s external relations is just talk, or something more important. GSP+ is only one part of this much bigger problem, to which post-Lisbon Treaty Europe needs to give an answer.
Read the full article from E!Sharp