Brussels, 16/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The visit to Brussels of Tunisian secretary of state of European affairs, Touhami Abdouli, came to an end last Friday and Abdouli left Brussels with the impression that he had managed to convince his interlocutors that his country was on the right track. His visit is considered important, given the new climate that the EU would like to see in southern Mediterranean rim countries. Tunisia is the first country to have held free and fair elections followed by the setting up of a provisional government and an assembly responsible for writing a democratic constitution.
Abdouli held meetings with Commissioners Füle and Dalli, EU Special Envoy to the region, Bernardino León, the deputy to the EU high representative for foreign affairs, Pierre Vimont, MEPs and Luc Van den Brande from the Committee of the Regions. Abdouli said that he hoped that he had managed to convince and reassure his interlocutors. He certainly had to use the strength of his convictions during dinner with ambassadors from the Political and Security Committee (PSC), who asked questions about the new direction in Tunisian foreign relations, the weight of political Islam and new relations with the Palestinian Hamas group (which is on the European list of banned organisations). Abdouli informed EUROPE that the new Tunisian authorities “are showing determination, transparency and an attempt to find tools to ensure the democratisation process”. He added that his own personal “connections” were also part of this combination because he was already a committed actor in the field of Euro-Mediterranean university cooperation. He “insisted” on the fact that the orientation of Tunisian diplomacy was not the preserve of a single party but the result of “discussions within the troika which are subject to mutual controls”. He himself is a member of the social democrat Ettakattol party and is no less critical than the EU with regard to certain trends observed (such as the invitation from Palestinian Hamas).
During his meetings, the secretary of state mentioned the need for credit lines to be released more rapidly and for promised aid. “As a whole, this aid and funding do not go above €400 million, an amount that will help us resolve a lot of problems.” He pointed out that “Germany converted, voluntarily, €60 million of loans into a donation”. He indicated that a second specially created taskforce meeting (that met for the first time last October and was inaugurated by Catherine Ashton) is “programmed for February for an evaluation an opening up towards new horizons”.
On one connected issue, which was underlined by the Tunisian media during celebrations of the first anniversary of the “revolution”, - the absence of any high-level European representation - Abdouli explained that the invitations had focused on the Maghreb region, in addition to Qatar, which had received an invitation much earlier on. “I think that in this kind of celebration, invitations are open to all friendly countries and neighbours.”
UfM calls on Tunisia
Another subject in annex to the agenda was the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). Almost all its interlocutors expressed their desire for Tunisia to designate a candidate for the post of secretary general that was left vacant by the Moroccan, Youssef Amrani. “Tunisia is eager to consolidate and strengthen this project” but would like the UfM to shift from a “politicised” operation to one that is “rationalised”. The Tunisian government is taking time to decide on this question in the knowledge that the majority Islamist party has misgivings about any participation in an organisation that contains Israel as a member. This opinion is not shared by the other parties in the coalition. (FB/transl.fl)