Case study report The view of the EU cultural and science diplomacy from Tunisia. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/13 • April 2018

Hatzenberger, Antoine (2018) Case study report The view of the EU cultural and science diplomacy from Tunisia. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/13 • April 2018. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

Tunisia is part of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), revised in 2015, alongside 15 other countries from Southern and Eastern neighbouring regions, and beneficiary from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). Although the Euro-Mediterranean relationship under previous guises was slightly impeded or besmirched at some point by its dependency to the old Tunisian regime1, now, due to its role at the forefront of the democratic movement in the region, post-2011 Tunisia enjoys a relatively privileged status amongst the MENA countries in general, and in the Maghreb in particular2. A “privileged partnership” was established in 20123. This place was confirmed in 2016 by the Joint communication to the European Parliament and the Council: “Strengthening EU support for Tunisia”4. European days have been organised in 2016. In November of this same year, the HR/VP Federica Mogherini payed a visit to Tunis, and the EU Commissioner for ENP, Johannes Hahn, attended the conference “Tunisia 2020”. In December 2016, the Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi went to Brussels to sign the “EUTunisia Youth Partnership”. Tunisia is one of the top beneficiaries of EU regional programmes for the Southern neighbourhood, in areas such as environment, energy, migration and security. The support to Tunisia amounted to 250 million € in 2016, and to 300 million € in 2017. The EU’s support to Tunisia encompasses many domains: economic reforms, private sector, employability, vocational training, schools, higher education, health, agriculture and rural development, decentralisation and regional development, environment and energy, transportation, governance, justice, security, human rights and civil society, gender equality, media and culture, migration and mobility, cross-border cooperation.

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