Foreign policy chief in Tunis to discuss democracy assistance, migration.
Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has pledged €17 million in immediate assistance to Tunisia. She announced the aid after meetings with ministers from the transitional government in Tunis today (14 February).
Ashton also promised that the EU would stand by its existing pledges to provide €240m in aid over the next three years. That money, which had been agreed before the overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the country’s longtime leader, in mid-January, is to come from the European Neighbourhood Policy. But the €17m is new, additional funding.
Nejib Chebbi, Tunisia’s minister for regional development, said that the popular unrest which toppled Ben Ali had cost the economy €2.5 billion.
Ashton said that the EU is prepared to grant the country ‘enhanced status’ before the transitional government of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi hands over power to an elected administration this summer.
“We want to both help deliver and underpin political openness, help with the democratic transition, and also support economic and social development,” Ashton told a press conference after her meetings.
She was accompanied in Tunis by Pierre Vimont, the most senior official in the EU’s new External Action Service, and met civic groups and staff at the EU’s delegation in Tunis.
Tonight she travelled to Israel and will hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials tomorrow before travelling to Lebanon and Jordan later this week. She will also seek to visit Egypt, but it is as yet unclear whether she will be able to do so.
Her visit to Tunis was to some extent overshadowed by the exodus of thousands of Tunisians to Lampedusa, an island in the middle of the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia that is Italian territory. The Italian authorities accused the EU of being slow to react, a charge that the European Commission has rejected.
The Tunisian armed forces today took steps to increase maritime border security, but rejected an Italian proposal for the deployment of Italian police or soldiers on Tunisian soil.
Italy has requested financial assistance from the EU to deal with the influx of Tunisians. The government also asked for Frontex, the EU’s border management agency, to get involved. Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, was in Tunis for talks late today.
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