Brussels 11/04/2014 (Agence EUROPE) - On the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday 14 April, the EU and Tunisia will fully review their relationship against the backdrop of the upheaval experienced by this partner country since 2011, which has damaged its economy and security.
The main focus of this session of the Association Council will be the scale of the support provided to Tunisia by the EU, which has both been circumspect and perceived as insufficiently generous to help this country out of the double rut, political and economic, in which it is stuck.
At this tenth session, the EU will above all make efforts to clarify its policy towards this country, a policy which has come very close to failure, due to the incomprehension which appears to have entered the mindset of the Tunisians. The recent visit of Commissioner Stefan Füle (see EUROPE 11039 and 11040) helped to clarify the European position. Overcoming any political misunderstandings was vital with the country, which the EU hopes will be the “democratic window” of its actions in a region in turmoil, marked by the emergence of a movement claiming to stem from divine law and which is, for that reason, unlikely to fit comfortably into a democratic system (see EUROPE 10933).
The EU, and its external action service in particular, plus a handful of member states (France and Germany), had taken a gamble on “democratising” the “Islamists” and of demonstrating this option in Tunisia itself (in comparison to the patent failure of this movement in Egypt in particular). The incomprehension its approach has met with has had the result of making Tunisian civil society question the point of the relationship with a Europe which appeared to them more inclined to “give lectures” than to offer support in the form of hard cash.
Since then, however, the EU seems to have dampened its ardour somewhat. It hopes to correct this perception and, in Luxembourg on Monday, it is expected to pledge its efforts in all areas of work already started, to listen better and to hone its interpretation of the will of the Tunisian citizens and to explain the opportunities it has to offer in the medium and longer term, rather than in the short term. The framework for action will be the “plan of action” currently being negotiated, and on which the Commission is prepared to get into an “open public debate” in order to appease Tunisian concerns.
This will make the European response more about the expectations of its Tunisian counterparts, who urgently need to tackle the full extent of the economic and social crisis. The EU agrees and also notes, in an analysis sent to the member states, that the crisis is a deep one and in order to come out of it, Tunisia needs support, but also major reforms and to strengthen its footing in the European single market. In addition to the “classic” aid (€150 million in budgetary credit a year), macro-economic support of €300 million is anticipated and the “green light” of the European Parliament awaited, probably at the April session.
Its analysis also covers the political field, which the EU sees as a difficult transition. It promises to help the country out of deadlock by supporting the forthcoming electoral process (promised for the end of 2014, but this would be difficult to stick to), security (direct support for training and logistics is being looked into). Tunisia is tending to become a transit country, regularly hit by technical and financial constraints. (FB)