Addition of the LTTE to the EU ‘terrorist list’

15.10.2012

Question for written answer P-009345-12
to the Council
Rule 117
Paul Murphy (GUE/NGL)

While addressing the Sri Lankan Parliament recently, the Sri Lankan MP Mangala Samaraweera, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time of the addition of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the EU ‘terrorist list’ in May 2006, made the following statement:

‘Also, we should not forget the support given by the US when I was the foreign affairs minister for the proscription of the LTTE in Europe. Then, seven countries in the 25-member EU did not agree with the LTTE ban, and it became a difficulty to adopt the ban as a unanimous decision. Therefore, I met [US] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice several times and through the offices of Deputy Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, got the consent of those seven nations to proscribe the LTTE on 29 May 2006. Even the LTTE admitted it as one of its biggest defeats and in his Heroes Day speech, [the LTTE leader] [Velupillai] Prabhakaran rebuked the international community for having been deceived by the Sri Lankan Government’ (‘Colombo Telegraph’, 4 April 2012).

The Swedish Major-General Ulf Henricsson, who was head of the Monitoring Mission of the Sri Lankan Ceasefire Agreement, also made a similar statement, saying that at a critical time the decision was made ‘in the cafés of Brussels’ and there was massive pressure from the UK and US governments.

1. Can the Council explain the decision of 29 May 2006 to add the LTTE to the ‘terrorist list’?

2. Were representations made to this effect by the US or by any other countries?

3. Can the Council explain which Member States proposed this addition?

4. Can the Council explain which Member States supported this addition and whether any Member States (and if so, which ones) were opposed?

5. Are there documents available which explain this decision and the process behind it?

OJ C 301 E, 17/10/2013