Brussels, 12/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Tunisian civil society has expressed its disappointment at how it has been consulted ahead of the revision of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) of the EU and has called for more time and an in-depth analysis of the causes for the failure of this policy. These consultations were initiated by the EU, more specifically by its delegation to Tunis, and took place on Thursday 11 June at Bardo, the seat of the Parliament (Assembly of the Representatives of the People).
The most structured of these organisations are: the powerful workers' union UGTT (Union générale des travailleurs de Tunisie, Tunisian General Labour Union), the Tunisian affiliates of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'homme (Tunisian Human Rights League, LTDH) and the Forum tunisien des droits économiques et sociaux (Tunisian Economic and Social Rights Forum, FTDES).
In a statement, they regret that not enough time has been allowed for these consultations, which “will not allow us in-depth access” to all the information on the neighbourhood policy and call for the consultations to run until the end of July. They are also calling for a specific debate on the reasons leading to the “breakdown of the neighbourhood policy”, rather than going no further than taking note of this breakdown, as the European Commission is doing.
As regards the DCFTA (deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement), they call on the government to carry out a national impact assessment and consultations with all players ahead of any ratification (Tunisia and the EU decided to open negotiations on this subject in October).
They are also calling for the national parliament to take over the organisation and convocation responsibilities from the EU. In Brussels at the end of May (see EUROPE 11326), the Tunisian associations spoke out against what they described as the interfering attitude of the EU delegation, which they felt seemed to hand-pick its Tunisian interlocutors and did not listen to civil society enough. They also note that the 2013-2017 working programme in this framework was drawn up against a backdrop of the fragility of the Tunisian state and fails to take account of current institutional developments. (Fathi B'Chir)