Brussels, 07/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 7 March Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Abdelwahab Abdallah was in Brussels for a working visit, where he met Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Hans-Gert Poettering and Martin Schulz, respective leaders of the EPP-ED and PES Parliamentary groups. Euro-Tunisian and Euro-Mediterranean relations and more generally the international situation, particularly in the Middle East and the reactions of the Muslim world to the publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammed in the Danish press were on the agenda for these various meetings. Tunisia's internal political situation, whose deficiencies have many times been highlighted by the European Parliament, was raised and the Tunisians were keen to make much of the recent pardons for prisoners, some of whom were classified as activists for Islamist organisations. For the European side, efforts still had to be made, particularly to resolve a potential difference on European funding of Tunisian human rights organisations. Despite the Tunisian government's progress in this area, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) said it was still not enough. In a letter to Mr Abdallah's interlocutors, the EU Presidency and the President of the European Parliament, co-signed by the International Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), they said that there had been no real improvement in the human rights situation to justify development in cooperation between the EU and Tunisia. These organisations called on the EU to tell Tunisian authorities that it would progressively suspend its various funding programmes until Tunisian NGOs were allowed to operate freely.
EMHRN, IFHR and OMCT warned particularly against the funding intended by the Commission for a programme strengthening the legal institution. They said that they could only denounce such an agreement in the current situation, unless it was linked to substantial changes in the way justice worked. They quoted cases of harassment and banning of magistrates' and lawyers' associations.