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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 7791028" data-attributes="member: 92282">The European Union (EU) is attempting to establish contact with the Sri  Lankan government over the GSP+ trade benefits to the country after the  deadline by the EU for the government to respond to its conditions ended  today.     EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Bernard Savage speaking to  Daily Mirror online said that the deadline issued was in order to enable  the Commission to revise its recommendations on the status of the GSP+  if a positive response was made.         However the Ambassador said that it was not a fixed deadline and the  Commission would continue to seek dialogue with the Sri Lankan  government.          “We still hope that we will be able to reach a dialogue with the Sri  Lankan government. We issued the deadline simply because of the fact  that if the Council did not meet in August it would enable us then to  engage in the administrative process of providing that recommendation if  we did have a positive response. So it is not a fixed deadline,”  Ambassador Savage said.         He added that the EU still remained hopeful that the government would  respond to the Commissions proposals in writing.          Meanwhile a spokesman for the EU in Brussels said that the EU was still  seeking contact with the Sri Lankan authorities and it may take a few  more days before contact could be established between the two sides.         The EU official also clarified that the offer to address outstanding  issues through a six month extension was made in good faith but it was  an option the EU could pursue only if the Sri Lankan government was  ready to continue engagement.         “It normally takes at least 4 to 6 weeks to get a political proposal  through EU decision-making, hence the invitation for a response by 1  July. The 15 February council decision could be reversed only through a  new proposal,” the EU spokesman in Brussels told Daily Mirror online.         The EU had written to the government putting down 15 conditions to be  addressed in order for a recommendation to be put forward for the EU to  temporarily extend the GSP plus trade benefits to Sri Lanka which ends  next month.         The government has so far rejected the conditions and said it will also  not formally respond to the EU letter.Dailymirror</blockquote>

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