Brussels, 07/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 6 May, the Ecofin Council formally adopted the decision granting Tunisia macro-financial support of €300 million allocated to its balance of payments. This is a loan to support the country's efforts to stabilise its economy, which has been badly affected by three years of political and security upheavals.
According to unofficial indications, the money will be delivered in three tranches. The conditions for the money to be granted, which will be aligned on those required by the IMF, are still being negotiated between Brussels and Tunis and a memorandum of understanding will conclude the technical discussions. In its decision on Monday, the Council states that the loan will be “made available for a period of two and a half years, starting from the first day after the entry into force of a memorandum of understanding to be agreed between Tunisia in the EU. It will have a maximum maturity of 15 years”.
This support has already been approved by the European Parliament at its most recent session. Certain MEPs, echoing civil society, voted against the money being granted under the presumed conditions. Opinion is divided within the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia (interim Tunisian Parliament), which will have to approve the operation.
The loan could “worsen the country's indebtedness”, said one of the leading figures of the Tunisian civil movement, Fathi Chamkhi, official spokesperson of the Assembly for Alternative International Development (known by its French acronym, RAID) and founder of ATTAC-Tunisie. He described the conditions imposed by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as “dangerous”. A protest took place in Brussels on 12 April. Eva Joly (Greens/EFA), who chairs the development committee, held a conference on Tunisian debt in February 2013. (FB)