Tunisia

Trans-Mediterranean cooperation: Is the EU failing Tunisia?

On September 15, Tunisia has held the first round of the second presidential election of its democratic history. What has the EU done to sustain the democratic transition? In the face of political commitments and economic resources flowing from Brussels to Tunis, progress is wanting.

13 September 2019 – VoxEurop

Contemporary art and migration: Sadika Keskes’ tribute to victims of the sea

Tunisian artist Sadika Keskes, with her latest performance on 1 October in Tunis, wanted to "restore dignity" to the thousands of migrants who died as they tried to cross the Mediterranean in search of a better life, and reminds Europe of its tradition of hospitality.

16 October 2017 – VoxEurop

Energy: Desertec takes some heat

Five years after its launch in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, "Desertec is showing few results," notes German news website Spiegel Online. The project […]

4 April 2013 – Presseurop Der Spiegel

From the Maghreb: Europe is no longer an inspiration

From the other side of the Mediterranean, the crisis that has struck the Eurozone has dimmed the star of the EU. More than ever divided, inward-looking, and prey to selfish national interests, Europe is no longer a model for a North Africa, which is increasingly inspired by emerging countries.

20 June 2012 – Slate Afrique (Paris)

Internet: It’s not real if it’s not online

Mass social movements only make waves when they have the internet in tow. This distorts our understanding of the world says Angela Nagle. From the Arab […]

6 March 2012 – Presseurop Notebook

European parliament: Sakharov prize for the Arab spring

"Europe restores its image with the Sakharov Prize," remarksEl Mundo on a day when the 2011 European parliament’s prize for freedom of thought was awarded […]

14 December 2011 – Presseurop El Mundo

Italy: Italian waters still dragged by illegal nets

The EU banned drift nets in 2002 to protect Mediterranean wildlife and paid out compensation to the fishers. But for many of the recipients, the tuna and swordfish fisheries are far too lucrative. And so they are getting around the ban, with the help of the Mafia.

31 October 2011 – La Repubblica (Rome)

Refugees: Asylum in Europe — a mirage across the water

Twenty-five refugees have just suffocated in the engine room of a boat bound for Italy. Their deaths are not merely another episode in the decades-old refugee crisis along Europe's southern coasts, but are part of the European strategy for deterring asylum-seekers.

3 August 2011 – Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich)

Renewable energy: Desertec to take over from nuclear power

The end of nuclear power in Germany and Switzerland and reduced tolerance for this energy source in many countries in Europe has given a new lease of life to projects based on renewable energy, like the one backed by a German consortium in North Africa.

8 June 2011 – Le Monde (Paris)

Spain-Tunisia: Short lesson on the weaknesses of democracy

In Tunis, a Volkskrant journalist witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of young Spanish indignados demonstrating outside their embassy. Their dialogue with passing Tunisians offers the basis for a reflection on our political system.

6 June 2011 – De Volkskrant (Amsterdam)

Diplomacy: 5 billion to aid Arab revolutions

Within the framework of its Neighbourhood Policy, "the EU has made democracy a condition for aid to Arab countries," headlines the daily El País. On […]

26 May 2011 – Presseurop El País

Immigration: The French judicial fiasco

Liberation devotes its front page to Tunisian migrants landed in Italy in recent days and detained in France. Dozens of the migrants, arrested by French […]

3 May 2011 – Presseurop Libération

Freedom of movement: The temptation to retrench

Battered by the crisis between France and Italy over the north African immigrants who landed on Lampedusa and were blocked at the French border, the Schengen agreements are now being openly questioned by Paris and Rome. On April 26, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi announced they are in favour of “changes” to the accord on the freedom of movement.

26 April 2011 – Presseurop

Poland: Wałęsa to teach democracy to Africa

“Lech Wałęsa goes to Africa” headlines Gazeta Wyborcza as the former Polish president and legendary Solidarność leader flies out to Tunis on 28 April to […]

14 April 2011 – Presseurop Gazeta Wyborcza

Asylum: Single entry point is tough to get open

The EU intends to set up some common rules on asylum. The surge in the polls of xenophobic parties in several countries and the influx of migrants from north Africa, however, have combined to make the debate an explosive one.

6 April 2011 – Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm)

Immigration : France and Italy's refugee ping-pong

Hundreds of North African refugees are continuing to land on the Italian island of Lampedusa off the Tunisian coast, provoking a humanitarian and political crisis. At the same time, hundreds of others are attempting, usually without success, to cross the border between Italy and France, which is their final destination.

30 March 2011 – La Stampa (Turin)

Enlargement: Tunisia, ideal candidate for the EU

Freed from the regime of Zine el Abdinine bin Ali and on the road to democracy, Tunisia should join the European Union, a group of […]

30 March 2011 – Presseurop Libération

Italy: Lampedusa immigrant crisis worsens

The refugee emergency on Lampedusa continues to worsen, reports Corriere della Sera, with arrivals reaching a new high on Sunday — 2,000 in 24 hours […]

28 March 2011 – Presseurop Corriere della Sera

Article: Coping with Gaddafi’s return

There is no denying that the "Arab spring" has not turned out well for European leaders. Having missed the boat on the Jasmin Revolution, they […]

14 March 2011 – Presseurop

Arab Revolutions: Do it like Zapatero

The first European leader to travel to Tunis since the advent of the new regime, on 2 March the Spanish Prime Minister offered financial aid of 300 million euros as well as political support to the North African nation. Le Monde argues that his initiative should set an example for Europe’s response to the democratisation of Arab countries.

4 March 2011 – Le Monde (Paris)

Article: Democracy – but beautiful

An angry Ireland votes today, and will doubtlessly elect as its next Taoiseach Enda Kenny of Fine Gael, a centre right party, to replace Fianna […]

25 February 2011 – Presseurop

Arab revolutions: Europe's not so wonderful example

What must a North African currently following news from the “European community of shared values” be thinking? It’s not just that the community's support for the fight for freedom around the Mediterranean has been half-hearted. It’s that it is taking its own members’ violations of the values the community espouses rather calmly.

24 February 2011 – Frankfurter Rundschau (Frankfurt)

Immigration: Lampedusa, an outpost in the storm

Since the middle of February, the Italian island of Lampedusa has welcomed several thousand migrants who have made the crossing from Tunisia. Battling with bad weather and without political support, local people have made the best of limited resources in their attempt to deal with the situation. La Stampa reports from an island on a war footing.

24 February 2011 – La Stampa (Turin)

EU-Libya: Gaddafi's last stand, Europe dithers

The bloody repression of the Libyan people by the Gaddafi regime is exacerbating the problem of a Europe faced with revolts in the Arab world, writes the European press, which calls for concrete and coordinated action.

22 February 2011 – Presseurop

Arab revolutions: What is really awaiting Europe

Terrorism, immigration, the economy: for Europeans, the wave of revolts that have shaken the Arab world is fraught with dangers that are not altogether clear. El País has tried to unravel truth from falsehood.

21 February 2011 – El País (Madrid)

Arab revolutions: Lady Ashton misses the boat

On 16 February, Catherine Ashton announced an aid package that will deliver a total of €258 million to Tunisia by 2013. Libération points out that the EU only gave its support for the Tunisian revolution when huge numbers of Tunisian boat people arrived on the coast of Lampedusa.

17 February 2011 – Libération (Paris)

Arab revolutions: Seven reasons to be hopeful

“Arab revolutions: a chance for us.” With a slight air of revenge after seven months of debate on the place of Islam in Germany, Die […]

17 February 2011 – Presseurop Die Zeit

Meditteranean: A diplomatic challenge

The EU is being constantly overtaken by surprises: first by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, then by the onslaught of refugees on Lampedusa. To ward off new ones, the 27 should be considering taking onboard the countries of Maghreb.

15 February 2011 – Der Standard (Vienna)

Italy: Arab revolution lands at Lampedusa

With the collapse of the Ben Ali regime, thousands of Tunisians have caught the boat to Europe. Their landing on the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa and the chaos this has caused foreshadows what could happen on the southern shores of the EU if the migration controls worked out with North African countries were to vanish, worries an alarmed La Stampa columnist.

14 February 2011 – La Stampa (Turin)

IDEAS: Why Arab revolution isn’t 1989 again

The parallel between the popular unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, and the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 is an uneasy one. How can the foundations for democracy in the Arab world be compared with those of Eastern Europe?

10 February 2011 – Lidové noviny (Prague)

EU-Middle East: Time to ditch the Arab stereotype

The revolutionary spirit sweeping the Middle East has provoked as much fear as joy in the West. Der Standard questions why is it that we doubt that Arabs have the will or the ability to be the masters of their own destiny.

4 February 2011 – Der Standard (Vienna)

EU-Egypt: An opportunity not to be missed

After the cacophony and the hesitation that followed the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia, the EU once more seems paralysed in the face of an uprising against the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak. All the same, notes the European press, it’s another chance to support democracy in its Mediterranean “backyard”.

31 January 2011 – Presseurop ()

Article: Learning from Tunisia

Social discontent among a large population of young people and the increasing prevalence of the internet played a key role in the Jasmine Revolution which […]

21 January 2011 – Presseurop

North Africa: After Tunisia, rethinking the Med

Aid packages will not be enough if Europe really wants to promote democracy in Tunisia, writes a specialist on Arab affairs, who believes that the EU should reconsider its entire neighbourhood strategy for Mediterranean Arab countries.

20 January 2011 – Le Monde (Paris)

France-Tunisia: How Paris missed the Jasmine Revolution

Overtaken by events, slow in supporting the forces of democracy, the French government seemed to be backing the regime of Ben Ali to the very end. Today, it’s having a hard time justifying its position.

18 January 2011 – Presseurop ()

EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Rise up, erm… stakeholders

Hope springs eternal is what I say. And with every dawn a new hope arises as fresh as the morning dew or a field of […]

18 January 2011 – Presseurop Notebook

Democracy: Do right by Tunisia this time

Now that Europe's longtime ally Ben Ali has fled abroad, Tunisia's democratic forces must face off the regime's old guard. This time around, will Europe do the right thing?

17 January 2011 – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt)

EU and Tunisia: Give Ben Ali the Lukashenko treatment

In view of the crackdown in Tunisia, the EU ought to apply the same policy of “smart sanctions” that had some sway on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus back in 2006, urges political analyst José Ignacio Torreblanca.

14 January 2011 – El País (Madrid)

EU-North Africa: A tragedy in the making

In turning a blind eye to the corruption, nepotism and human rights violations of North African governments, the EU should share some of the blame for the violence that has recently erupted in Tunisia and Algeria, argues Belgian journalist Baudouin Loos.

10 January 2011 – Le Soir (Brussels)

Union for the Mediterranean: The Med’s adrift

The enthusiasm with which the Union for the Mediterranean was launched two years ago has been steadily waning ever since. The main reason why, says French political philosopher Sami Naïr, is the lack of a serious EU commitment to the region.

23 September 2010 – El País (Madrid)

Religion: The Islamisation myth

In the wake of the London and Madrid bombings, predictions proliferated in print and on web that Islam was entering a radicial and violent phase. Dire warnings of the imminent “Islamisation” of Europe have turned out, however, to be of little substance, reports the Observer.

28 July 2009 – The Observer (London)