EU democracy projection in Tunisia: The case of civil society consultations

ABSTRACT

Tunisia’s civil society has widely been identified as one of the factors that prevented the country from following the unfortunate path of other Arab states in which long-term autocrats were ousted in 2011. Hence, the EU has identified it as a key interlocutor, began to provide more substantial support to associations and started to regularly consult with activists. While substantial research has been devoted to the EU’s financial assistance for civil society, interactions outside the donor-recipient relationship have received less attention. In line with this special issues’ objective to examine how the EU projects democratic norms through its interactions with non-state actors in in the Southern Mediterranean, this article zooms in on its consultations with Tunisian civil society. It finds that the EU is including only a non-representative subset of civil society activists as a result of its practices. To what extent these activists’ perspectives and preferences are conveyed to Brussels is not entirely clear either. Moreover, some of its practices strengthen the perception of the EU being a patronizing and paternalistic actor.

KEYWORDS:

• EU democracy promotion
• civil society
• consultations
• democratic transition
• Tunisia
• activism

Acknowledgments

Thanks go to Federica Bicchi, Emmanuelle Blanc and Beste İşleyen, to the fellow authors of this special issue as well as to two anonymous reviewers for commenting on previous drafts of this manuscript. I am immensely grateful to all Tunisian activists and EU officials who agreed to talk to me and share their thoughts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The National Dialogue was initiated by the Tunisian General Trade Union (UGTT), which joined forces with the Tunisian employers’ organization (UTICA), the National Order of Tunisian Advocates (ONAT) and the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH).

2. Such as Jamaity or EuroMed Rights.

3. Štefan Füle. Speech on the Recent Events in North Africa. Brussels, 28.02.2011, http://bit.ly/2CzWVBe (accessed on 27.10.2014).

4. Catherine Ashton. Address to the European Parliament on the United Nations General Assembly, the Middle East Peace Process and the Arab spring. Strasbourg, 27.09.2011, http://bit.ly/2BR2UQP (accessed on 27.10.2014).

5. European Commission. The EU’s response to the ‘Arab Spring’. Brussels, 16.12.2011, http://bit.ly/2LCXQUg (accessed on 27.10.2014).

6. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015. Djerba and Kairouan are popular destinations for tourists.

7. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

8. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

9. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

10. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in June 2015.

11. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

12. Interview with an activist from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), held in Tunis in May 2015.

13. Interview with the Tunisia desk officer at the EEAS, held in Brussels in March 2015. TTIP refers to the ‘Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’ that the EU and the United States were negotiating at the time.

14. Interview with the Tunisia desk officer at the EEAS, held in Brussels in March 2015.

15. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

16. Interview with the Tunisia desk officer at the EEAS, held in Brussels in March 2015.

17. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

18. Interview with the Tunisia desk officer at the EEAS, held in Brussels in March 2015.

19. Interview with the Tunisia desk officer at the EEAS, held in Brussels in March 2015.

20. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

21. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

22. EuroMed Rights. Members. Copenhagen, http://bit.ly/2BJwZl1 (accessed on 11.07.2017).

23. Interview with an employee of EuroMed Rights, held in Tunis in August 2015.

24. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

25. Interview with the co-founder of a Tunisian civil society organization, held in Tunis in May 2015.

26. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

27. Villa 78 was closed. It has reopened with a different name and management, but has ceased to be the above-mentioned meeting point.

28. Interview with an EEAS official working on Euro-Mediterranean relations, held in Brussels in March 2015.

29. Interview with an employee of Jamaity, held in Tunis in August 2015.

30. Interview with an EU official from the political section of the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2019.

31. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

32. Fieldwork notes made while observing an information session for civil society in the EU Delegation in Tunis on 22.4.2015.

33. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

34. Interview with an activist, held in Tunis in May 2015.

35. Interview with an activist, held in Tunis in May 2015.

36. Fieldwork notes made while observing an EU consultation with civil society in the EU Delegation in Tunis on 18.05.2015.

37. Interview with an activist, held in Tunis in May 2015. Ettahrir is a Delegation, that is a second level administrative division, in the governorate of Tunis.

38. Dimitris Avramopoulos. Press statement by Commissioner Avramopoulos on the first measures under the European Agenda on Migration. Brussels, 27.05.2015, http://bit.ly/2ESfm6M (accessed on 14.04.2017).

39. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in May 2015.

40. As recounted by a participant of this consultation.

41. Interview with an activist, held in Tunis in May 2015.

42. Interview with an activist from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), held in Tunis in May 2015.

43. Interview with Mokhtar Trifi, former president of the LTDH, held in Tunis in September 2015.

44. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in April 2015.

45. Interview with an official from the EU Delegation in Tunis, held in Tunis in August 2015.

46. Interview with an employee of EuroMed Rights, held in Tunis in August 2015.