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by P. Krishnaswamy Deepal Warnakulasuriya and Karel Roberts Ratnaweera

The twelve-member multi-party parliamentary delegation that visited Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy recently returned to the island last week. During their ten-day tour, the parliamentarians acquainted themselves with federal systems of governments obtaining in Europe. The delegation included parliamentarians from the ruling United National Alliance (UNF), the PA and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena who led the delegation said that this was the first time that a parliamentary delegation drawn from the ruling party, the Opposition and the minority were on a fact-finding tour of this kind. The delegation visited four Europeon countries and did an in-depth study, travelling overland, the Minister said.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were also invited but they did not join the delegation, he said. The JVP did not respond and the LTTE regretted its inability to send a representative because of commitments in connection with peace talks and the Sub-Committee meeting, he said. He added that during their tour they met parliamentary leaders, legislators, scholars and academics. The delegation visited the Europen Academy in Germany which has separate department to research on federalism, he stated. Explaining the origin of Federalism in the four Europeon countries, he said: "Germany introduced its federal structure on economic grounds while in Austria federalism originated from historical reasons.

In the South Tyrol in Italy the system was introduced on linguistic grounds. In Belgium the system has lasted over 33 years with no terrorist activities, ethnic conflicts nor national disintegration. The central parliament has powers over Security, Judiciary, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Social Security. Individual rights, language rights, cultural rights and educational rights have been devolved to the regional parliaments."

Minister Jayawardena further said that the tour was sponsored by the Germany-based NGO, "Peace Talk", headed by Mr. Franz Klug and all expenses were borne by them. All members of the delegation, irrespective of political differences, worked in co-ordination, fully realising that the Sri Lankan ethnic issue as a national problem. "I will be submitting my report to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is fully committed to a negotiated settlement. We now want to educate the people on the federal system of governance.

The Premier has very clearly mentioned that whatever may be the political solution, it will be put to the people for their approval. LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham has consented to a Federal system, with povisions for internal self-determination," the Minister said. Four other members of the delegation, representing the minority communities, also gave their impressions:

Kabeer Hasheem, UNP MP and Minister of Tertiary Education: "Belgium has one of the best examples of federalism but its model cannot be imported here in toto. It must be admitted that federalism is useful and correct method of power-sharing among the major communities of Sri Lanka. Our concern is what type of federalism we require. I believe we have to evolve our own model of federalism based on the federal structures prevailing in Belgium and other European countries.

Three linguistic communities - Flemish, French and German-speaking - live peacefully under the federal system prevailing in Belgium. The historical origin of the federal system in South Tyrol in Italy is also worthwhile considering. We also learnt an important lesson during our tour: we earlier thought that power sharing was difficult if not impossible, but now we think it is very possible".

R. Yogarajan Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) MP: "We visited Belgium, Germany, Austria and South Tyrol in Italy to study their respective federal systems of governance. Belgium has an elaborate system of devolution and federalism. Its system of regional parliament is decided on a linguistic basis with a community parliament to serve their respective individual needs.

The system, suitably modified and adapted to the Sri Lankan situation, may serve the different communities in our country and living as minorities among local majorities. Though federalism is believed in Sri Lanka to suit Sri Lankan minorities, it is used in Germany and Austria to rectify the economic imbalance between regions. Annually, fund allocations are made from richer regions to poorer regions equalise the development of different regions. South Tyrol is a German-speaking region in Italy and the people were subjected to Italianisation under Mussolini. These people have been granted total autonomy under a federal system to develop themselves as an independent entity within Italy."

P. Chandrasekaran, Up-country People's Front (UPF) MP and Minister of Social Development and Deputy Minister of Irrigation and Water Management:

"We studied the federal system of the four countries we visited. I observed that the federal systems in those countries was introduced primarily to develop their countries economically to be on par with the other affluent Europeon countries, after World War II. It was not introduced to resolve internal crises or win over the demands of minorities.

They did not want any internal crisis over ethnic, linguistic or religious issues standing in the way of their economic growth. Also they had introduced the system to overcome economic disparities among the different regions and for the common welfare of the people. Under their system of federalism, there is neither discrimination against minorities nor any concession to majorities. I would recommend to the Government to evolve a system of federalism suitable to our country, in the context of our political and econimic conditions, incoporating all appropriate aspects of the four different federal systems which we studied during our visit."

Rishard Badurdeen, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MP for Wanni District: "The federal model of Belgium is preferable since it provides the seven percent Danish-speaking minorities of that country the same political, economic and social rights and benefits as the French-speaking majorities, without any discrimination whatsoever.

The system, suitably modified and ratified in the context of our political and economic situation, could offer regional autonomy to the Tamils and Muslims of the North-East. Relevant aspects of the federal system prevalent in the other three countries which we visited should also be taken into consideration while evolving a federal system for our country. Under their system of governance, opposition parliamentarians are also being appointed as cabinet ministers.

The country has prospered economically and is free of any internal crisis. The people of different regions are working for the economic prosperity of their respective regions without any social, political or linguistic differences while being patriotic at the same time."

'A ten day fact-finding mission in Europe gave us a good opportunity to see federal systems in some European countries. We met parliamentary leaders, legislators, academics and a number of intellectuals, said PA MP the Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thera who participated in the tour, representing the LSSP. Commenting on which federal system would suit Sri Lanka the Ven. Samitha Thera said that the federal structure could be changed from country to country on the basis of devolution of power. "I believe any system in the world cannot be transplanted here with the same format. But, I think the system in India would be most suitable with some adjustments", Samitha Thera added.

PA Parliamentarian W.D.J.Seneviratne explained how the federal systems work in Europe and how they were originated, differing completely from one country to another. "In Germany they brought in the federal structure on economic grounds while Austria adjusted itself to federalism for on historical reasons. Linguistic grounds was the reason in the Tyrol and in Belgium it was something else. Therefore, we have to have a deeper study of our problem and decide which is the most suitable system for our country," the PA Parliamentarian said.

He said that they also saw that the Central Government or the Central Parliament has powers over the Judiciary, Defence and international relations etc while the power over other issues had been devolved to regional parliaments. MP Seneviratne also said that we have to design our own model of federalism after serious studies of federal structures prevailing in other countries.

However, he admired the Federal structure in Belgium where three linguistic communities, Flemish, French and German co-exist peacefully. However, the Parliamentarian added that moulding a suitable structure for Sri Lanka is not a problem. "The problem is with the genuineness of the LTTE", he added.

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