Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs travel to Tunisia to look into political situation

The visit aims to support an inclusive national dialogue after the last elections and assess the recently signed EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding.

A delegation of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee will visit Tunisia on 14-16 September. The purpose of the visit is to get a better insight into the current political situation in the country.

During their stay in Tunis the delegation, led by MEP Michael Gahler (EPP, Germany), will meet with civil society organisations, trade unions, opposition leaders and representatives of political foundations as well as EU member states. The AFET ad hoc delegation has also requested to meet its Tunisian counterparts.

Along with the chair, the delegation is composed of Dietmar Köster (S&D, Germany), Salima Yenbou (Renew, France), Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA, France) and Emmanuel Maurel (The Left, France).

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Background

This visit is a follow-up to an AFET fact-finding mission to Tunisia in April 2022 when Parliament was concerned about political backsliding in Tunisia on democratic standards and human rights. The delegation will now help to assess developments since the previous visit in the light of the elections of December 2022/January 2023 and the dire economic situation. MEPs will look into the recently signed EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding covering five pillars: macroeconomic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, people-to-people contacts, and migration and mobility. Some MEPs have expressed their concerns regarding the worsening of migrants’ rights in the country.