Brussels, 29/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Štefan Füle, the European Commissioner for enlargement and the European neighbourhood policy, is to carry out his first mission to Tunisia on 29 and 30 March. This country has applied for "advanced status" in its relations with the EU. A document laying out Tunisia's vision has been sent to Brussels and will be the subject of detailed negotiations. The Commission's visit will signal the green light for the start of the examination of the conditions under which Tunisia will benefit from a status which will, according to the usual wording, be "less than accession but more than accession". One of its hallmarks will be the involvement of the country in question in a number of Community initiatives and regular dialogue on political, economic and social aspects. In return, Tunisia will grant the EU an authorised opinion on developments in its national politics.
According to Mr Füle's press service, the Commission "strongly emphasises his willingness to reinforce relations between the EU and Tunisia, which have been described as "strong", and which are currently governed by the Association agreement, which entered into force in 1995. He said that he is "convinced that we will be able to develop our bilateral relations further, assisted by a great many positive factors, particularly the stability enjoyed by the region".
Tunisia has been in a situation of full industrial free trade with the EU since 1 January 2008 and its trade with the EU is stable (the EU covers 68% of Tunisian imports, worth 11 billion euros in 2008, and 73.5% of its exports, 8.7 billion euros). However, it still shows a deficit, which has been flagged up by the Tunisian authorities and which is not compensated for by financial support (240 million euros for the period 2011-2013, compared to 330 million euros for the period 2007-2010). The Commission wishes to finalise this liberalisation by bringing the Tunisians to the negotiating table over an opening-up of their market for services and to improve the access regime for agricultural products. Bilateral negotiations for the liberalisation of trade in services and the right of establishment were both launched in 2008. Since the Association Agreement entered into force, the EU has also "made a contribution to the sustainable economic growth of Tunisia and its integration into the multilateral trade system, via the implementation of a large number of trade-related technical assistance projects", states the European delegation to Tunis. The EU is also the number-one foreign investor in Tunisia. (F.B./trans.fl)