The European Union has continued to develop its partnership with Tunisia fairly successfully since the revolution there in 2011.
"The core of my mandate is to make the EU Tunisia's top partner, that the EU might be in a position to make a difference", the EU ambassador to the country, Patrice Bergamini, told journalists, including from EUROPE, in Tunisia on 28 November. "We have all the facets of a strategic partnership that are developed with this country", he said, adding that Tunisia was "a strategic country, a pivot, a real democracy, despite inevitable difficulties" – a country which "bore hope".
Negotiations on DCFTA to be resumed in 2018
The European Union and Tunisia are currently negotiating a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA) to replace the free trade agreement that dates back to 1995. While bilateral trade has doubled since then, and Tunisian exports to the EU have tripled, "the scope (of action of the agreement) is limited", Beatriz Knaster Sanchez, the head of the trade section at the EU delegation in Tunisia stated. Significant areas like services and agriculture are not covered, which puts the country at a disadvantage compared with its Moroccan and Egyptian neighbours when it comes to agriculture.
Started in 2015 and currently on hold, the DCFTA talks are expected to be resumed in 2018. "This agreement will enable better economic integration", Knaster Sanchez stated, adding that it should also attract foreign direct investment. The agreement is expected to be based on four criteria: transparency; asymmetry in favour of Tunisia; to be gradual, with a long transition period; and to include measures accompanying the process.
Until now, the DCFTA talks have been limited to a negotiating round in April 2016, followed by technical discussions. "The EU submitted an initial text in all the areas, but we have not been able to make much progress", Knaster Sanchez said. Faced with the concerns of a very active civil society as regards the impact of the existing agreement, the Tunisian government decided to carry out an impact assessment. UTICA (the Tunisian union of industry, commerce and craftsmanship) is concerned, for example, about the negative impact the agreement could have on Tunisian agriculture or the fact that it could call into question certain economic advantages from which companies benefit, or about the upgrade required of companies in order to respect standards.
"We are working on the timetable and we expect the result of the impact assessment in April, which will enable us to move ahead", Knaster Sanchez stated. "The text is relatively standard. If the Tunisians do not like it, they should give another text, but for this they have to come to the negotiating table", she added. The head of the delegation's political section, Katariina Leinonen, underlined that Tunisia – a market with 11 million inhabitants – was "not a market that will change the European economy much", whereas the opposite is true. "We want a stable Tunisia", Leinonen said, stating that the agreement was not so much about trade as about politics.
In 2015, trade between the EU and Tunisia stood at over €20 billion and the EU accounted for nearly 63% of all Tunisia's trade.
Alongside this, Tunisia would like a prolongation of the increased quotas without customs duty for olive oil. To help the country when it was badly affected by a drop in tourism following terrorist attacks, the EU decided to increase olive oil quotas exempt from customs duties for 2016 and 2017. Another 35,000 tonnes were thus added to the existing 56,700 tonnes under the association agreement. Knaster Sanchez stated that the question was currently being considered by the EU, but that it is complex and the first discussion had been complicated as several European countries are olive oil producers themselves.
Mobility causes disagreement
Another sensitive subject in the negotiations is mobility. While Tunisia and the EU concluded a mobility partnership in 2014, the two parties are currently negotiating visa facilitation and an agreement on readmission. Talks took place in Brussels during the week of 27 November. "The negotiations on the readmission agreement are difficult", Leinonen said. While Tunisia agrees to the return of its citizens, it opposes the return of people from third countries who have entered Europe via Tunisia.
And the Tunisians want more. "We do not only want economic free movement, but also for people", the general coordinator of the Tunisian federation for the environment and development, Hafedh Hentati, stated. Tunisia would reportedly like visa liberalisation by 2030. The EU, for its part, would like a staged approach, beginning with the liberalisation of visas for certain categories. "It's a long-term process", Leinonen said. She added that this liberalisation was "not on the table" and that the focus was on visa facilitation. Tunisian civil society also wants temporary visas to be granted for seasonal work, in agriculture, modelled on cooperation between the USA and Mexico.
Tunisia and the EU are also due to initial an Open Sky agreement on 11 December, when European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc visits Tunisia. The negotiations for this began in June 2013 and the agreement is expected to be ready for next February or March. According to a European official, it can be implemented as soon as it is initialled. The agreement provides for the reciprocal opening of air transport and the harmonisation of legislation.
The two parties also cooperate in terms of security, but the partnership is complex. Tunisia is in a complicated geographical position, situated between Libya, where the crisis continues, and Algeria, where the situation could become threatening. "It is difficult. We are trying to talk with the minister of the interior, but when we talk about reform of the security sector, it is not an easy discussion", Gerald Audaz, from the delegation's social development and regional section, stated. Nevertheless, according to Leinonen, "there was a real change in 2015". The EU launched a €23 million programme in November of that year to support the reform and modernisation of the security sector. But cooperation could be developed still further. There is no specific cooperation on foreign fighters, for example, although Tunisia is "very good at identifying the returners", a European official stated. There are reportedly between 700 and 800 returners in Tunisia. "There is no specific work on this. Tunisia considers it sensitive for its security", the official added.
Despite the difficulties, the EU and Tunisia have already discussed long-term cooperation. Since the summer they have been negotiating an action plan for their relationship in the 2020-2030 period. "Tunisia has very ambitious views on how to move ahead", Leinonen said, adding that the EU expected the Tunisian proposals "by the end of December".
Reforms need to be accelerated
Although, for the EU, Tunisia can be described as "an island of democracy in a complicated Arab world", progress remains to be made and several Tunisians questioned by EUROPE believe that the situation has not evolved much compared with the period preceding the revolution.
"The reforms are not going quickly enough", the EU ambassador admitted, saying that part of the country was quite reluctant or confused about the change. The EU is pushing Tunisia to move forward in this area. "There is a real need to move forward in the democratic transition, economic performance and in the institutions", Leinonen said. She also said that the Parliament was not as effective as a democratic parliament should be. In the view of her colleague Ronald Audaz, it is also important for the democratic principles to be "fully absorbed by the political parties".
"After the revolution, there were strong social expectations", Gerald Audaz stated, saying that the government did not always have the funds to be able to respond and was slow to respond to expectations. He also said the country was very centralised. "Many donors decided to respond in place of the government", a diplomatic source added.
The current economic situation in Tunisia is very difficult, with a growth rate of only 1% when the official figures before the revolution were 5% under Ben Ali. "The rates are very low to be able to allow the government to reduce poverty and inequality", Audaz stated, adding that foreign investment was also low. The public deficit stands at 6 to 7% of GDP, and since 2010 public spending has not exceeded 45 to 72% of GDP. The country also has a big informal sector, and a fair amount of corruption.
In order to contribute to the country's democratic transition, the EU has made significant financial resources available. According to the Commission, the EU is expected to allocate up to €300 million for 2018, for projects, programmes or the state budget. The Commission has also endorsed macro-financial assistance of €500 million for 2016-2020, and the European Investment Bank is expected to continue providing loans to the country. This assistance is bearing fruit, according to a report of March 2017 by the European Court of Auditors. "Generally, the financial assistance granted by the EU to Tunisia after the Arab Spring of 2011 had been dispensed" and "broadly contributed to the country's democratic transition and its economic stability after the revolution", the Court of Auditors states. For the 2011-2016 period, the EU provided over €1.2 billion to Tunisia just in donations. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)