Brussels, 25/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - In her address to the donor meeting in Brussels recently for Egypt and Tunisia, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said she was delighted to see so many participants but she did note the visible absence of anyone at the meeting from the two countries in question and pointed this out to representatives of international financial and political organisations and aid donors sent by a range of countries, like EU member states, the United States, Japan and Gulf states.
Both Tunisia and Egypt had been invited to attend in order to set out their needs and react to offers of aid from the international community for dealing with problems arising from the major political upheavals in the two countries in recent months. Cairo and Tunis called for the meeting to be postponed until a later date but made this request too late because the EU wants to act fast to avoid duplication and bring potential donors together to arrange coordination among them.
The official line in Brussels is that Tunisia and Egypt's absence is understandable but their absence had been noted. A representative of one of the Gulf states is reported to have bitterly criticised the fact that they had not turned up. Close EU sources said that while their attendance was not crucial at the first meeting, it will be needed later on when talks become more detailed.
No figures have been quoted and the talks are reported to have focused on analysis of the right direction to take in providing aid to the two countries. EU sources say the Gulf states were happy to listen. There was the feeling that all the donors had understood each other and felt that the aid should go to all sections of society in Tunisia and Egypt.
Tunisia is calling for urgent aid to heal the economic damage caused by the revolution that has revealed areas of fragility previously hidden by the military regime. Like Egypt, Tunisia justified its absence by the fact it had not yet been able to draw up an accurate needs assessment. In reality, it is suggested that the situation in the country is chaotic, with ordinary people and opposition groups demanding assurances that are not being met, which suggests that the transition government may be sent packing and a different institutional approach might be used in preparing for the upcoming elections. In Cairo, the revolution is only now beginning to calm down and the new authorities have not yet been able to examine policies and other issues.
In her speech, Ashton said that the key issue was the need to decide on the best way to support the great changes in Tunis and Cairo, adding that it was the entire Arab world that was in a state of flux. She said the scale of the changes and their consequences were historic and the response needed to match it. She used the unacceptable events in Libya as an example of the importance of this issue for Europe.
She said there were three issues, commenting on her recent visits to Tunisia and then Egypt. Firstly, the transition process has to be supported and the EU can rely here on its own history of democracy and reconciliation such as in European countries that have gone through similar changes (Eastern Europe). Secondly, there is the need to help build what she called deep democracy (political reform, elections, institution-building, fighting corruption, introducing an independent judiciary and backing civil society) through determined support for economic development and jobs for young people. She said that the way the situation would pan out was not clear but there were various factors that could guide the collective response. Thirdly, she said, a total overhaul of the EU's neighbourhood policy is required, explaining that a meeting was taking place at the European Commission as she spoke to see how more ambitious action could be taken to encourage greater democracy. (F.B./transl.fl)