Brussels, 08/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 8 June, the European Parliament formally approved the European decision to grant a €500 million loan to Tunisia as macro-financial assistance, designed together with the IMF. MEPs adopted the resolution on this by 561 votes in favour, 76 against and 42 abstentions. The resolution confirms the agreement made in co-decision by the European Parliament and Council in April (see EUROPE 11542).
The rapporteur on this issue, Marielle de Sarnez (ALDE, France), underlined the urgency of this assistance and said she would like the Commission “to make this money available as quickly as possible, before the summer”. The implementation procedure will nevertheless be quite long. Tunisia will have to sign a new memorandum of understanding with the EU that must also be approved in the Tunisian parliament, the Assembly of the People's Representatives, a source told EUROPE.
Technically, the assistance will be paid in three tranches - €250 million in an initial tranche as soon as possible, and €150 million for each of the following two tranches. The payment will be made according to a monitoring programme for the efforts to which Tunisia is committed with the EU and IMF. The European Commission states that the macro-financial assistance completes the significant development aid that Tunisia has already received from the EU as part of the European neighbourhood policy, through the European neighbourhood instrument (ENI) and other financial instruments outside the EU.
In its resolution, the European Parliament states that it is very important that Tunisia succeeds, and that it able to deal with all those who want to destabilise it. This is why Europe must show its solidarity with Tunisia, the European Parliament states, and why Europe must be determined to accompany Tunisia and support it in its development through very concrete actions directly benefitting the country's population.
During their discussions, most MEPs underlined the urgency with regard to the challenges that are considered too great for such a small country. MEPs believe Tunisia should be commended for its progress towards democracy and stability, and that it has helped control migration flows across the Mediterranean. Just one MEP, Lampros Fountoulis, a non-attached MEP from Greece, thought that the €500 million would be better used internally. He criticised the facilities already granted exceptionally to Tunisian olive oil which, he said, “have broken the prices” in Europe. Eleonora Forenza (GUE/NGL, Italy) said she was opposed to the resolution, and she deplored the assistance being granted in the form of a loan and not a donation, which would worsen the debt. Marielle de Sarnez said the debt weighed heavily on the Tunisian economy and she asked the Commission “to start thinking” along the lines of France and Germany, “which have decided to convert part of Tunisia's debt into investment in Tunisia”.
Most MEPs spoke about this debt issue, which is rousing strong debate in Tunisia, especially within civil society. Patrick Le Hyriac (GUE, France) called for the creation of a “public bank” that would collect the funding given, plus that plundered by the former regime and strengthened by a debt reconversion operation. Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA, France) also spoke about the debt, as he did about the conditions set by the EU and the Washington group. He said that the “essential needs” of the population must not be touched - a population upon which the conditionality being imposed is stronger than that demanded of Turkey. Emmanuel Maurel (S&D, France) said he wanted the EU to play “its own role” and not to align itself with the requirements of the IMF. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)