COLOMBO: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Sri Lanka has pressed the visiting EU delegation on the need to repeal the country's controversial anti-terror law that gives police sweeping powers to arrest suspects without trial.
TNA, the main Tamil party, in a statement said that during their meeting held on Tuesday, they also discussed with the EU delegation the possibility of amending the constitution to address Tamil political grievances.
The 5-member EU delegation arrived here on September 27 and are expected to hold a series of high level meetings.
"Our delegation met with the visiting EU delegation and emphasised the repeal of the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act)," it said.
The visiting EU mission is here to process the periodical monitoring of EU's GSP+ trade concessions for Sri Lankan exports to the EU.
GSP+ preferences for Sri Lanka were withdrawn in 2010 due to significant shortcomings in the country's implementation of three UN human rights conventions.
Sri Lanka was readmitted to GSP+ in May 2017.
The EU's GSP+ trade concession allows Sri Lankan exports to Europe without taxation.
This has been a big boost to Sri Lanka's apparel and fishing industries.
The visit of the EU delegation comes after the European Parliament's June 10 resolution calling for the repeal of Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and inviting the European Union (EU) Commission to consider temporarily withdrawing Sri Lanka's access to GSP+.
The resolution had stressed that "one of the key commitments of Sri Lanka was to fully align its counter-terrorism legislation with international human rights conventions."
It urges the European Commission to "use the GSP+ as a leverage to push for advancement on Sri Lanka's human rights obligations."
The country had in July informed the EU about the progress in the reconciliation process and the ongoing efforts to review a controversial anti-terror law.
The EU is Sri Lanka's second largest export market.
Around 7,000 export items are covered under the trade concession, officials said.
A bulk of the facility, over 60 per cent, is granted for apparels.