BANGKOK, Aug 6 (Reuter) - Unilateral European sanctions against Burma to pressure the military government into reform were unlikely to be effective due to Europe's low level of investment there, a European Commissioner said on Tuesday . "My personal view is that...I don't think that for the moment it's a credible way," Emma Bonino, Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, said when asked about the possibility of the European Union (EU) imposing economic sanctions on Burma. "Our investments (in Burma) are very low...economically speaking it's not a major impact," she told reporters. Calls for sanctions against Burma arose in Europe following the June 22 death in detention of Leo Nichols, an honorary consul for several European nations, including EU-member Denmark. Nichols, a close friend of Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died while serving a prison term for unauthorised use of telephones and fax machines. The Rangoon government said he died of natural causes but some European officals said he was mi

streated before his death. Bonino, who late last week returned from a private visit to Burma where she met Suu Kyi, said an ongoing EU inquiry into forced labour in Burma was likely to see that country losing its preferential tariff treatment with the EU. The investigation is expected to finish late next month. If it finds that forced labour is practised there the EU member countries will have to decide whether to withdraw generalised scheme of preference status for Burma which would cost the country $30 million a year, she said. "I do think that there is a great possibility that the European Union will unanimously come out with this decision and that could be the start of a political world-wide movement," she said. "World-wide there is concern about what's going on in the country. What is not yet decided is what to do," she said. On the question of humanitarian assistance to Burma, Bonino said she was particulary concerned about the spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Burma and would rec

ommend that the EU provides funds to non-governmental groups working there against the disease. Last year the EU provided about $2.8 million in humanitarian aid to Burma, more than half of it going to camps on the Thai-Burmese border housing ethnic minority refugees fleeing Burmese army operations against minority guerrillas.