Brussels, 20/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The EU is to strengthen its cooperation with Tunisia by providing for a further €70 million in its budget for 2015 and by assessing the possibility of setting up a mission as part of the common security and defence policy (CSDP) to support the Tunisian authorities in border management and protection - especially its border with Libya.
Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid was hosted for lunch in Brussels with his foreign minister, Taieb Baccouche, and with the EU ministers as part of the Foreign Affairs Council. One of the Council sessions was dedicated to the situation in and around Tunisia - a country hit hard by economic difficulties and which has recently suffered heavy terrorist attacks (Sousse and Bardo).
At the end of the day, along with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Essid welcomed the fact that an agreement in principle has been concluded in order to increase cooperation between Tunisia and the EU - especially as regards security. Juncker, who has been invited to visit Tunis by Essid, reiterated that the EU has made €116 million available to support Tunisia in 2015 and he announced that another €70 million could be expected in addition to this, with the Council having asked him the same day “to explore the possibility of mobilising supplementary funds, given the situation that Tunisia has to address”. Juncker confirmed that in the coming months, cooperation between the EU and Tunisia will “be accelerated and increased”.
The increased support from the EU will go to three areas, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated during a press conference with Essid. She gave assurances that the EU has “strong political resolve” to support Tunisia in its political transition and its fight against terrorism. The three areas are economic support, support for democratic transition through the continuation of the action taken since the “revolution” of January 2011, and aid to respond to the threat of terrorism.
At the end of May, the EU proposed a range of actions, including strengthening the capacities of Tunisian security institutions by training security forces, by more direct support in intelligence gathering, and by improving the working methods of the Tunisian police. An allocation of €23 million will thus be made by the end of the year for this security programme.
In the conclusions adopted on Monday, the ministers stated that the EU and its member states are ready to mobilise all the appropriate instruments available to support Tunisia in the fight against terrorism, including the instrument contributing to stability and peace (IcSP) and the CSDP, should the authorities request this. The EU and its member states would then ensure engagement in the relevant Tunisian institutions.
Mogherini and the European Commission are now asked to explore all the options possible and to submit proposals on this to the Council as quickly as possible, including to support border management and protection, to contribute to efforts allowing the tourist industry to be protected, and to prevent radicalisation. The ministers also called for the preparation to be accelerated for the EU's programme to support the reform of the security sector (…) so that its activities might be launched in the coming months.
On the political level, the EU will support the reforms for democratic consolidation, and on the economic level, the EU underlined the positive signal for investors that Tunis announced in October with regard to negotiations with the EU on the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA), Mogherini stated. In their conclusions, the ministers also asked Tunis to start negotiations “as soon as possible” with a view to a visa facilitation agreement and a readmission agreement.
The EU also wants “to accelerate its support” for beginning the regional “decentralisation” in Tunisia and to foster tourism and culture (education, universities, research), especially by involving Tunisia in the EU Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation from 1 January 2016, “with an exceptional privileged entry price”, in Mogherini's words. A gesture will also be made in the agriculture industry by an “exceptional and temporary” increase in quotas of olive oil imported from Tunisia. The figures are reportedly still being discussed. (Fathi B'Chir and Jan Kordys)