Brussels, 26/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 25 June, Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, on a trip to Brussels, took pains to reassure his audience of the willingness of his government to complete democratic transition, during his various talks with the Presidents of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, and of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Pierre Vimont, and the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament.
But he did not go uncriticised by the MEPs who attended his hearing, to the extent that one of the members of his delegation, Trade Minister Abdelwaheb Maâtar, could not conceal his annoyance. In an interview with the radio station ShemsFM, he called upon the EP to respect “Tunisia's sovereignty”, adding that Tunisia's “identity” had been undermined.
His discussions with Barroso and Van Rompuy, on the other hand, gave rise to less criticism. After their respective meetings, in largely similar speeches, they paid tribute to the actions of the Tunisian government, offering additional aid of €40 million (under the SPRING programme), on top of the €400 million from the neighbourhood policy resources. They welcomed the agreement concluded by Tunis with the IMF, which will make it possible to consider more determined European macro-economic support. A commitment has been made to start the various negotiations planned (see EUROPE 10873) to establish a “privileged partnership”.
The prime minister welcomed this, thanking the EU, including the Parliament, which lent its support to the recovery of the assets of the former authority and on the Tunisian debt. Barroso and Van Rompuy both offered him electoral support and an observation mission, once a date has been agreed for elections which are still uncertain and are the subject of lively debates at the Constituent National Assembly. In the “frank and open” atmosphere of their discussions, as President Barroso described it, they nonetheless stressed the red lines of European support: respect for institutional commitments and freedoms and, most of all, security.
When questioned at his parliamentary hearing by Véronique De Keyser, Ana Gomez, Carmen Romero and Antonio Panzeri (all four members of the S&D Group), Malika Benarab-Attou (Greens/EFA) and Michael Gahler (EPP), the prime minister focused on keeping a sense of proportion and pleading good faith and goodwill, imputing the violations raised to circumstances and even showing surprise on hearing about some of them.
The MEPs pointed the finger at a number of recent breaches of freedoms and, in particular, the delays which have come about in respecting the institutional deadlines agreed upon since the elections of October 2011. These include drafting a constitution, which was promised for the end of 2012, the holding of general elections, reform of the justice system, the legislative enshrinement of journalists' rights, etc. Another sensitive issue is the insecurity in the country and on its borders and the government has appeared to be playing a waiting game, if not evading its responsibility, in its reaction to acts of physical violence (in particular the murder of a leading political opponent, Chokri Belaid) and of declared terrorism. The Army has had to intervene on the borders, particularly on the border with Algeria, to tackle armed groups, which has led to doubts as to the country's ability to protect itself from attacks of this kind, which have been attributed to AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and which have placed the EU on alert. These doubts have given rise to a general debate in Tunisia and the senior officer has just announced his retirement in silent protest, leaving open the possibility of washing dirty linen in public on the attitude of the government, which cannot agree on the steps to be taken to combat growing insecurity. And regarding the risk of hegemony of which his party is suspected, the prime minister distanced himself from the leader of this movement, Rached Ghannouchi, who is felt to be susceptible to the arguments of the Salafists, repeating the words used by Laurent Fabius about his relationship with François Mitterrand: “he is who he is, I am who I am”. This was virtually the general tone of his speech to the MEPs, trying to calm their apprehensions without committing himself (about the murder of Chokri Belaïd, about a rapper sentenced to 2 years in prison, about the Femen, three of whom are European, who have just been sentenced to prison, etc). He did, however, issue a plea on the importance of links with Europe, thanking the continent for its support to Tunisia since its revolution and counting on its aid to face the problems of unemployment and to help restart the economy, which has been damaged by a lack of security, and to get the state back into working order.
The prime minister took the opportunity to make an announcement of national interest: presidential elections will be held at a date he did not specify, but before the general elections. The issue will be debated upon his return to the country, where the government and his party are constantly accused of delaying tactics. (FB/transl.fl)