Brussels, 20/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - “The EU and its member countries continue to consider us as peripheral countries incapable of achieving the construction of their region in order to become interesting and credible partners that are capable of engaging with them on the long term, especially on the energy sector which concerns [the EU member countries] the most.” This is the judgment made by Tunisia's former prime minister and former ambassador in Brussels, Rachid Sfar.
Sfar is an eminent figure on the Tunisian and Maghrebi political and economic landscape, and he once again criticises Euro-Tunisian relations, as he believes these are marked by the EU's flagrant, and now openly-expressed, reservation towards Tunisia as regards the approach to this relationship - which dates back to the Treaty of Rome.
The same critical debate is also taking place in Morocco. This doubtless is an indication that one of the dutyies of the next European Commission will be to review the approach if does not want to see the gap widening. This is all the more pressing as the whole Euro-Mediterranean issue seems to have broken down. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) “is no longer anything but a labelling structure for projects loaned to others and sees its own projects parked on their land through lack of financing”, said a senior official from a country on the southern shore of the Mediterranean which is contributing directly to its work.
In Sfar's view, the reason lies in the inadequacy of the current approach. The references have changed, he says - “the energy sector has become determining for the EU”. Others, especially European think tanks, have cited the example of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) which, on the basis of using pooled coal and steel resources, supported European integration. Energy and agriculture would today argue for a similar Euro-Mediterranean community.
The relationship between the two shores of the Mediterranean is crucial for both sides. “Tunisia, like any other country, must take account of its geography and history. The proximity with Europe, the presence of a strong Tunisian settlement in this area, the importance of our trade and our economic relations oblige us to cooperate with the EU”, as with its member states, says Sfar. However, he regrets that the EU “continues not to consider that a true co-development with the countries of the Southern Mediterranean constitutes one of the solutions to its problems”.
The future would nevertheless be in a Euro-Maghrebi relationship, even if ,“while waiting for the construction of a hypothetical economically serious Maghreb, we are under the obligation of negotiating our cooperation alone”. However, this should be done, says Sfar, “with intelligence and firmness, while not ceasing to remind our so-called partners of their unkept promises… and especially the promise, clearly affirmed by Romano Prodi in his famous 'everything except institutions' statement that the content of this cooperation is extremely similar to that implemented with the countries of the East”.
“Besides all the rhetoric, only a real rapprochement with the programmes already achieved with countries like Poland is able to remedy the multiple imbalances that are experienced from the current cooperation with the countries of the Maghreb”. However, Sfar says, this cooperation with the EU “must in no way be made to the detriment of serious cooperation with other areas” in the world. “It is important for us to look at the world constantly in its entirety and its contradictions, and to take advantage of a multi-form cooperation with the countries of Maghreb and Africa, of course, but also with Japan, the USA, China, the Gulf countries…”. Nevertheless, he recognises, “all this is only possible and achievable once our internal problems have been resolved, as well as those with our close neighbours - Libya and Algeria. The development of terrorism in our region complicates the issue still further”. (Our translation throughout.) (FB)