On Thursday 11 May, the European Union and Tunisia are holding a meeting of their association council in Brussels in order to review their bilateral cooperation and the "substantial" support to this country, which is in full political transition (see EUROPE 11773, 11758).
The association council will be co-chaired by the current rotating president of the EU Council, Malta's Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella, and by his Tunisian counterpart Khemais Jhinaoui. It "will review the stages to come" by examining the priority subjects – "socio-economic development support and trade relations", "the EU-Tunisia partnership" and "the migration and mobility questions", a press release from the Maltese Presidency of the Council states.
The Tunisians intend to define a specific approach enabling a "qualitative leap" in a relationship which should reportedly be an example in a destabilised region. The EU has fully affirmed its political and financial support on several occasions over the last year, believing that "the democratic transition is on the right track" and a "source of hope for the region", according to a source close to the issue. The same source says that "Tunisia now needs to turn words into actions by socio-economic progress through crucial structural reforms". Progress in areas such as reform of the public administration and business environment would "alone be able to relaunch growth and jobs, and offer prospects to Tunisians, especially young people", the source states.
In anticipation of this session, the European Commission and European External Action Service published an "initial report on the state of EU-Tunisia relations for the 2015-2016 period" on Wednesday 10 May. This aims to show the EU's "constant support" to Tunisia "from right after the revolution" through the EU's financial assistance and also through Tunisia's "membership of the Horizon 2020 research programme, the Erasmus+ programme, and the adoption of an EU-Tunisia partnership for youth, as well as a partnership for mobility", the report states.
Discussions on Thursday will also focus on security, counter-terrorism and the regional situation, especially in Libya. The EU-Tunisia agreement on Creative Europe and an pilot initiative on integrated local development will be signed during this association council meeting.
At the end of April, a second tranche of EU macro-financial support to Tunisia (for €500 million) was announced (see EUROPE 11776). (Original version in French by Fathi B’Chir)