At the closing of the European Parliament’s Tunisia week on Thursday 4 May (see EUROPE 11780), EU Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn repeated the commitment to support Tunisia and hold expanded dialogue with the country.
He hoped, however, that Tunisia, and particularly its legislators (he was addressing the Tunisian parliamentarians present, headed by the speaker of the Assembly of Representatives of the People (ARP), Mohamed Ennaceur) would highlight implementation of decentralisation, improving the business environment and job creation. He said the EU was preparing a ‘reinforced support strategy’ for a country for which, he said, ‘we have exceeded our initial financial commitments’.
The Commissioner said the future would focus more on methods and common reflection, with structural reform and good governance, including fighting corruption, establishment of education programmes for young people and help to diversify the economy as action priorities.
The speaker of the Tunisian parliament said the changes in cooperation were ‘positive’ but the ‘framework is old’ and needs to be rethought. He mooted the idea of a ‘special support fund’ with similar methods and aims as those of the European Structural Funds for the countries of the various rounds of enlargement. He hoped for greater openness in the European market and managed mobility for young people. Tunisia would be prepared to propose ‘guarantees to reassure Europeans’ worried about flows of migration. In this spirit, he also hoped for greater parliamentary cooperation through the setting up of common working groups.
The three-day meeting enabled parliamentarians on both sides to consider a structuring of their dialogue, whose conclusions were listed by MEP Michael Gahler (Germany). He said the most important framework for parliamentary dialogue to be set up would be the draft free trade agreement (ALECA), which civil society is very doubtful about. Gahler stressed the European proposal to set up a ‘petitions committee’ at ARP to encourage connections between elected officials and voters. (Original version in French by Fathi B’Chir)