Brussels, 14/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Tunisian foreign minister, Othman Jarandi, has confirmed his country's commitment to strategic cooperation with the EU. Opening the day's business at the seminar on “Tunisia and the European Union in a changing regional context”, organised in Tunis on 8 May by the International Studies Association to coincide with Europe Day celebrations, Jarandi nonetheless said he hoped the EU would step up cooperation not only in substance but with consequential financial support.
The minister said that Tunisia-Europe relations are still a priority of Tunisia's foreign policy. The changes that have taken place over the past two years in that region have not only confirmed Tunisia's strategic choice to strengthen links with the EU but have also opened up new horizons towards what is now a privileged partnership. This relationship is essential in the regional context in which Tunisia is evolving in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, he said, adding that there are major challenges of a political, economic, social and security kind to be faced.
Jarandi welcomed the fact that foundations have been laid for a privileged partnership between Tunisia and the EU for the period 2013-2017. It is, he said, by initiating this process that it will be possible to stand as a bulwark against the rise in security threats in the region as a whole. The responses to these challenges, which come under responsibility that is eminently national in nature, involve strengthened links with partners, Jarandi said, going on to add that better regional integration in the Maghreb will constitute an additional guarantee for ensuring success. This affirmation echoes the Euro-Maghreb strategy initiated in Brussels last December by the EU. A communication on support for Maghreb integration and strengthened cooperation with the Maghreb countries had been proposed and warmly welcomed. It is the subject of in-depth examination and consultation at Maghreb level, especially last week during the meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) foreign ministers in Rabat. This choice of the Maghreb framework contrasts with the omission of the Euro-Mediterranean dimension and seems to confirm the new direction being taken in Brussels as in the western Mediterranean countries for increased bilateral cooperation supported by sub-regional Euro-Maghreb cooperation (AMU and “5+5”), rather than in the context of the Union for the Mediterranean, considered as having broken down.
On the specific agreement with Tunisia, the minister spoke of the future complete and in-depth free trade agreement (ALECA) to be negotiated with the EU, on the free trade of goods and services and aimed at establishing a common economic area after the fashion of that which binds the EU, Switzerland and Norway. He trusts, however, that a progressive approach will be adopted in order to take into account the sensitivity of certain sectors and provide for asymmetrical commitments and timetables. He also calls for the field of mobility to be covered without fearing a surge in migrant flows. Considering the Mediterranean as a security buttress for a fortress Europe, he said, is a narrow vision that has shown its limits, especially by failing to eradicate the phenomenon of illegal migration.
Regarding the financial aspects, Jarandi underlined how essential it is to ensure substantial technical and financial support in the context of the EU's financial perspectives for 2014-2020, to keep up with reform ambitions. He trusts that the additional financial support further to the Tunisian revolution will increase commitments in proportion. (FB/transl.jl)