European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited on Sunday Tunisia together with the Prime Ministers of Italy and The Netherlands to meet the Tunisian President Kais Saied and discuss economic aid and cooperation.
At the press conference after the meeting, the three members of ‘Team Europe’ described the discussions with the Tunisian president as good and were satisfied that they had agreed on a joint statement on a comprehensive partnership package. President Said himself was absent from the press conference and no questions were asked by any journalists.
According to the statement, the EU and Tunisia share strategic priorities in several areas and will gain from working together more closely. The partnership would cover four areas: strengthening economic and trade ties, a sustainable and competitive energy partnership, migration, and people-to-people contacts.
The first area can be divided into macro-financial assistance to Tunisia to strengthen its economy, and investment and trade, according to von der Leyen’s press remarks. More support will also be provided to Tunisia for its border management. “The objective is to support a holistic migration policy rooted in the respect of human rights,” she said.
The increase in economic aid to Tunisia expresses the Commission political priorities in its relations with Tunisia and deviates from the previous financial allocation under the new Global Europe Instrument. To finalise the partnership agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding has urgently to be worked out and adopted by the European Council by the end of June.
The issue of democracy, rule of law and human rights was apparently not high on the agenda when Team Europe met the Tunisian President. After the Arab Spring in 2011, Tunisia was the only country which experienced a promising democratic development. Since Saied was elected in 2019, he has dashed all hopes for democracy and the country has taken a worrying turn to authoritarian rule.
According to an article by Anthony Dworkin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Affairs, Saied conducted a power grab in July 2021 by suspending Tunisia’s parliament. In the period that followed, he steadily dismantled all the checks on his authority and rewrote the post-revolutionary constitution, resulting in a rubber-stamp parliament and a judiciary under executive control.
Furthermore, since Tunisia’s parliamentary elections in January this year, Said has arrested many of the most prominent people who have spoken out against his increasingly authoritarian rule. But this negative development was not mentioned by the Commission. President von der Leyen referred briefly to democracy in her press remarks.
“Tunisia is a partner that we value very much in the European Union. . . With Tunisia, we share much more than geographic proximity, we share a history. Since 2011, the European Union has been supporting Tunisia's journey of democracy. It is a long, sometimes difficult road. But these difficulties can be overcome.”
Asked for comments at the Commission’s press conference on Monday, chief spokesperson Eric Mamer referred to the Commission President’s optimistic remarks on overcoming difficulties while stressing that she had visited Tunisia to address some concrete opportunities and needs that exist on both sides.
“We have to engage with our partners on all dimensions, not only the critical ones but also those where we see joint opportunities that ultimately can lead to an improvement in the situation,” he explained. “From an economic point of view, the situation is extremely difficult in Tunisia and it is therefore important to engage with Tunisa on that.”
A moment for everything
“There is a moment for everything,” he concluded, indirectly quoting the preacher in the Biblical book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). “This visit was to see how we can work with Tunisia.”
Peter Stano, EU lead spokesperson for foreign affairs, said that the EU has raised its concerns in the past and referred to a recent fact-finding mission to Tunisia by the foreign ministers of Belgium and Portugal on behalf of the EU. “They had come to reiterate EU’s and Tunisia’s shared attachment to the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights as part of our on-going engagement with Tunisia.”
High Representative Josep Borrell declared in July 2022 that the EU continues to follow closely the political process in Tunisia and has taken note of some concerns but any criticism then was implicit. It would take until the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in March 2023 for the Council to react and exchange views on the political situation in Tunisia.
High Representative Borrell was more outspoken in his press remarks after the Council meeting. “For us, it is imperative to avoid economic and social collapse and to support [the] Tunisian people,” he said.
“Everything has to be done quickly, because the situation in Tunisia is very, very dangerous. If Tunisia collapses economically or socially, then we will be in a situation where new flows of migrants will come to Europe. We have to avoid this situation.”
The Council expressed its continued willingness to support the Tunisian people but also stressed the urgency of addressing the issue of the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country. To monitor the situation there, two members of the Council were tasked with travelling to Tunisia to assess the situation and suggest ways forward.
Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib and Portuguese foreign minister João Gomes Cravinho visited Tunisia in May. A press release stated that they had a fruitful dialogue with the Tunisian authorities but it is difficult to assess the impact of their visit beyond the declared “commitment to the partnership between the EU and Tunisia, incl. the values and principles that are the core of it”.
The conclusions of the latest Foreign Affairs Council meeting (22 May) only mentions that it exchanged views on Tunisa based on the debrief provided by the Portuguese minister. This time, High Representative Borrell did not mention the situation in Tunisia in his press remarks although the situation has worsened since 2022. Whether there was any written report is unclear.
The EU normally conducts a human rights dialogue with its partner countries and conditions its aid and trade relations with them on compliance with the principles and values of democracy, rule of law and human rights. The Commission could discuss these at another opportunity. President von der Leyen announced that the Association Council with Tunisia will be reinstated by the end of this year.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
