Brussels, 08/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Tunisia has accepted the EU's offer to negotiate a DCFTA-type agreement (deep and comprehensive free trade agreement) and to set up a “privileged partnership”, another name for the “advanced status” already established with Morocco. The announcement was made last week by Tunisia's foreign minister, Taieb Baccouche, but there are not yet any details of dates.
During the Association Council with Tunisia in Brussels on 17 March, the EU stated that it was making a “specific offer to Tunisia”. The country's state and corporate structures, as well as those of civil society, have been invited to the consultations that are already under way in several countries from the southern shore of the Mediterranean to prepare for the European neighbourhood policy review, in which the European Commission is already involved (see EUROPE 11288).
Similar consultations are already ongoing with Morocco and have set the tone as regards the generally reluctant reactions. “New areas of cooperation are proving a priority - especially on energy security, the fight against terrorism and organised crime, and emigration policy”, said head of the EU delegation, Rupert Joy. According to Moroccan media, which quote this diplomat, “the real content of these guidelines will only be made known on 13 April” in Barcelona, at the conference of ministers from the southern shore. It is understood, however, that the business and civil society sectors remain reluctant about certain aspects - particularly about the opportunity of a DCFTA agreement and also about the “mobility” (selective visa options compared with a “readmission” agreement). In short, there is reportedly a refusal to play the “role of policeman, or even of backflow country” for illegal migrants who have transited Morocco (see EUROPE 11287).
According to a reliable source, the most important issue for the Moroccans is the principle of “differentiation” between states - “it is time for the Commission finally to implement the principle of variable geometry”. The same commentators call for “positive conditionality” to be implemented, according to which the “avant-garde” countries will be better treated, like those involved in the so-called “Agadir agreement” (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan) favouring “horizontal” free trade between these four countries, in line with the free trade with the EU.
Overall, the same attitude holds in Tunis - between reluctance and hope for concrete measures and a long term outlook. The influential local newspaper Essahafa notes that currently there is criticism of these “disproportionate negotiations” between “a well prepared EU and a Tunisia that turns up without in-depth studies”.
In the view of Tahar Sioud, former trade minister and negotiator for the Euro-Tunisian agreements, the outlook of negotiating is reportedly “premature”. “What will we negotiate? On what basis?” He told EUROPE that his recommendation is to “avoid sowing the illusion” and to wait “to give content” to the “advanced status”. Tunisia's former prime minister, Rachid Sfar, says that “the EU's neighbourhood policy was (already) a total fiasco at the time the EU was entangled in its serious structural problems (...) In this context, the announcement of a consultation seems to me to be a simple 'communication story'” which “will lead to an empty shell”. The consultations undertaken in Tunis seem to be disputed because they do not reportedly involve all the country's major players, as several parties bear witness - both in the political classes and in civil society.
On the substance, another former member of government, Hatem Ben Salem, believes that “not only is Europe taking a position which goes against the flow (…) but it seriously risks missing a historic chance to contribute significantly to peace and prosperity in its southern-Mediterranean neighbourhood”. Its “chaotic and vision-less reaction to the events” is questioned. Ben Salem's fear is that the neighbourhood policy review will only be seen in the short term and will remain without strategic vision. “While the European attitude of excuses, with regard to Libya or Yemen, seems to be justified by the fear of becoming involved in armed conflicts with unpredictable consequences, nothing can explain Europe's irresponsible stance with regard to Tunisia”. The European Commission “distils the aid with homeopathic doses - aid which brings little structure, is scant and which goes towards projects that have no real impact on the Tunisian economy”. In Ben Salem's view, “instead of setting up a common security strategy in the Mediterranean, the EU is taking the wrong track in its bilateral negotiations that have no prospect of effectiveness”. But, he says, “Europe is not responsible alone: the slackness and lack of coordination at the level of the states from the area are also at the root of the current failure of the anti-terrorist fight”. He hopes that in Barcelona on 13 April Europe “will fully grasp the need to fix its true geostrategic priorities” in its relationship with the Mediterranean. (Fathi B'Chir)