From 2 to 4 May, Members of the European Parliament (EP) and their counterparts from the Assembly of Representatives of the People (ARP) of Tunisia shared their experiences of parliamentary, legislative and representative good practices.

“Cooperation between our two parliaments has emerged stronger from this Tunisian week”, said European Parliament Vice-President David-Maria Sassoli as the event closed on Thursday. “We must now give concrete form to the shared experiences and good practices, to benefit all our citizens”, he added.

In various workshops, they debated, in particular:

• intensively and constructively, the role of political groups in a parliament (workshop I),
• the need to involve parliaments in all trade negotiations, well upstream, and before it is concluded, to prepare the EU-Tunisia Free Trade Agreement (workshop II on the FTA),
• the need to strengthen ARP-EP links to tackle corruption and the financing of terrorist networks (workshop III on fighting money laundering),
• the need to promote a culture of gender equality in order to transform legal provisions into social reality and establish a women’s committee within the ARP (round table on gender equality and women’s participation in public life),
• the expectations of Tunisia’s young people to be able to study, be trained and work in line with the laws in force in (workshop IV on the links between Parliament and civil society, and
• substantial support from the EU to Tunisia, with a conditionality policy tied to the implementation of reforms (debate on current and future EU-Tunisia relations).

ARP President Mohammed Ennaceur said: “Stepping up European aid to the new Tunisia will be crucially important and will be a big help in laying the foundations of a real and effective strategic partnership that matches the challenges that Tunisia faces”.

“You can count on our support; we are in favour of stepping up European Union assistance under the various partnership instruments. It is important not only to consolidate economic growth, but also to ensure that it is sustainable,” said European Parliament President Antonio Tajani at the 2 May opening of the Tunisian week at the European Parliament.

Read more

Press release

EU Neighbours South – Mogherini confirms EU’s commitment to accompany Tunisia and support its youth

Relations between the EU and Tunisia – Factsheet

EU cooperation with Tunisia

Q&A: Supporting Tunisia’s transition: a strategic priority for the EU

EU Delegation to Tunisia – website and Facebook page