Tunisia wants "real support" for democratic transition from EU

Feb 2, 2012, 11:08 GMT

Brussels - Tunisia hopes that the European Union's 'moral support' for democratic transitions in the Arab world will evolve into 'real support,' the country's newly-elected moderate Islamist leader said on Thursday.

'Thank you for your moral support, which I hope will translate into a real support,' Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said in Brussels after a meeting with EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

Jebali, whose Ennahda party has been compared to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), leads a government that includes two leftist coalition partners, the Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who also met Jebali, said Europeans should not worry about Islamist parties coming into power as long as they subscribed to democratic values.

'It is important to reduce the fear' of them, he said.

Striving to reassure his European audience, Jebali said a new constitution would be written within a year enshrining the rule of law, freedom of religion and women's rights, making 'Tunisia a model of freedom and prosperity.'

'I appeal to Europe, to all of Europe, and to the international community too, to take part in this enterprise with us ... We must success and we will succeed together,' Jebali said.

Van Rompuy said the EU was 'determined' to offer Tunisia a privileged partnership 'among equals,' foster foreign investments in the country, develop trade ties and the 'prospective of a progressive integration of the Tunisian economy' into the bloc's single market.

In December, the EU said nearly 4 billion euros (5.25 billion dollars) could be available for Tunisia over the next three years - with contributions also coming from the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank.

The bloc also pledged to start 'the preparatory process' for the launch of talks on a free-trade agreement early this year.

But on Thursday, Van Rompuy also called for reforms on security, electoral law and judicial sector reforms, arguing that they were 'necessary to send a reassuring signal to the outside world, including foreign investors.'

Tunisia's was the first of the so-called Arab Spring democratic revolutions, which last year led to the overthrow of autocratic, secular regimes also in Egypt and Libya and sparked still-ongoing unrest in Syria.

Van Rompuy said the EU was looking at developments in the region 'with confidence and alertness,' but had faith in Tunisia's own democratic transition.

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