Brussels, 18/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 April, the EU and Tunisia took the opportunity in Luxembourg, at their annual Association Council, to renew their mutual commitment to step up their bilateral cooperation and collaboration for regional security, especially with regard to the Libyan situation. Both parties were in complete agreement on Libya and the establishment of a new government.
There is a “real dialogue” between Tunisia and the EU, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated at the opening of the joint press conference alongside Tunisia's Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui - while Jhinaoui too confirmed the good quality of the EU-Tunisia relationship. The quality of this relationship is thrown all the more into the spotlight as the two parties are celebrating 40 years of cooperation - which seems to be of more interest since Tunisia, the country that set off the revolutions in the Arab-Mediterranean area, has been conducting a relatively successful political transition. The same country is nevertheless facing enormous socio-economic difficulties with young people bearing great expectations.
The EU states that it has stepped up its support and since 2011 (the year of the revolution) has doubled its financial assistance to €1 billion per year. “Today we are renewing our mutual commitment to deepen our privileged partnership, a reflection of the exception that the Tunisian transition represents and of the shared ambition to step up our relationship in all areas”, the two parties stated in a joint press release, thus showing their common resolve to work more closely on fulfilling this commitment in concrete terms as part of the revised European neighbourhood policy.
In particular, Tunisia and the EU are showing innovation by working on their collaboration with civil society - with which they want to step up their dialogue in order “to broaden it to all the big issues of bilateral relations, which must be the object of full transparency and a true public debate”. The adherence of civil society is indeed considered an important gauge of success, especially in the areas of trade (total free trade arouses doubts) and anchoring the Tunisian economy to the European internal market.
The urgency is nevertheless stability and security in a country threatened by terrorism - in a region that is itself in danger. EU-Tunisia cooperation on security is thus particularly important and is seen by “the EU's significant support programme to the reform of the security sector”, which the two parties are resolved to implement “effectively and swiftly in support of a comprehensive Tunisian strategy for fighting terrorism and radicalisation”. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)