EU offers Tunisia up to more than one billion euros in the long term

2023-06-11 10:05:43

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, visiting Tunis on Sunday, accompanied by the head of the Italian government and the Dutch Prime Minister, proposed a “strengthening of the partnership” with Tunisia. This plan includes support for the fight against illegal immigration, with immediate financial aid of 150 million euros and up to 900 million euros in the long term.

Published on : 11/06/2023 – 12:05Modified : 11/06/2023 – 15:23

The European Union proposed, on Sunday June 11, a “strengthening of the partnership” with the Tunisia including long-term financial aid of up to €900 million and additional immediate aid of €150 million to this heavily indebted country.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visiting Tunis, said she had proposed this five-point program, also including financial support for the fight against l’immigration clandestineto the President Kaïs Saïed. She hoped for the signing of an agreement between Tunisia and the EU by the next European summit at the end of the month.

“It is in our common interest to strengthen our relationship and to invest in stability and prosperity, that is why we are here,” said Ursula von der Leyen, saying she was acting on behalf of “Team Europe”. . She was accompanied on her visit by the Prime Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloniand the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.

More than a billion euros in the long term

Recalling that the European Union is the “first trading partner and first investor” in Tunisia, she recalled that Europe has “supported Tunisia’s path to democracy since 2011 (and the Revolution that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, editor’s note), a long and difficult road”.

The European Union’s five-point proposals to Tunisia, which will be the subject of further negotiations, provide for “macro-financial assistance of up to 900 million euros as soon as the necessary agreements have been concluded”. .

“We could provide additional aid of 150 million euros to be injected into the budget now,” added Ursula von der Leyen.

The five-point program proposed by the EU provides for increased investment in Tunisia, in particular in support of the digital sector, investment in Tunisia’s export of renewable energies and the extension of the European energy exchange program. Erasmus students in Tunisia.

One of the other aspects proposed by Brussels concerns the fight against the “cynical business” of illegal immigration, for which the EU will provide Tunisia “this year with 100 million euros for the control of its borders, the search and rescue” of migrants, said Ursula von der Leyen.

serious economic crisis

Tunisia is strangled financially by a debt of about 80 % of its GDP and can no longer borrow abroad, leading to recurrent shortages of certain basic products, such as flour, sugar and rice, purchased and imported by the state.

The country is in difficult talks with the IMF for a new loan of almost two billion dollars.

But the discussions are stumbling over President Kais Saied’s refusal of reforms such as the restructuring of the hundred over-indebted public companies and the lifting of state subsidies for basic products such as fuel.

Read also : Stuck in an economic crisis, Tunisia on the verge of default

“A Haggle”

Tunisia is therefore of concern to Europe, in particular Italy, because of these economic difficulties but also the risk of an acceleration in the departure of migrants from its coasts.

Parts of Tunisia are within 150 km of the Italian island of Lampedusa and attempts at clandestine migration, by nationals from sub-Saharan Africa and many Tunisians, are regularly recorded.

Saturday evening, during a surprise visit to Sfax, the second Tunisian city from which the majority of candidates for illegal emigration have left since the beginning of 2023, Kaïs Saïed said he refused that his country “be the guardian of the borders” of the ‘Europe.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, which follows migration issues, denounced, in a press release, the European visit as “blackmail” and “bargaining” to “give money” to Tunisia in exchange for reinforced surveillance of its borders.