The French head of state was speaking at a press conference held after the European Council in Brussels
French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday from the Belgian capital Brussels to “help Tunisia regain political stability” and reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Macron was speaking at a press conference after the European Council in Brussels. Asked if he shared the Italian analysis that the collapse of Tunisia would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe, Macron said: “We had a very good discussion with the President of the Italian Council Giorgia Meloni last night (… ) we indeed evoked the situation in Tunisia where the very great political tension, the economic and social crisis which is raging, in the absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, are very worrying”.
The French leader believes that this situation “leads first to a crisis for Tunisia itself, a very great destabilization of the country and the region and indeed, increased migratory pressure on Italy and on the European Union. “.
Macron called for “acting together” at European level to “be able to help Tunisia regain political stability and, we hope, reach an agreement with the IMF and also to initiate avenues of cooperation, one of the components of which is is the control of emigration from Tunisia”.
According to the French Head of State, “we must first as a primary objective; stability and path of growth for Tunisia, in the very fragile context in which this country finds itself, but we also need, in the very short term, to succeed in stopping the migratory flows which leave Tunisia and which increase the pressure on Italy and the rest of Europe”.
“On this subject, I believe that we have concrete cooperation that we can have both in dialogue with the Tunisian president and his government, with the IMF, but also because we ourselves as a country can bilaterally and with the European Union for Tunisia”, he concluded.
As a reminder, the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, had alerted, at the end of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, held on Monday 20 March in Brussels, that “The situation in Tunisia is very dangerous”.
“If Tunisia collapses, it risks causing migration flows to the EU and causing instability in the Middle East and North Africa region. We want to avoid this situation,” he insisted.
Tunis dismissed Borrell’s comments, calling them “selective” and “disproportionate”.
Tunisia is experiencing a serious economic crisis, exacerbated by the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, and the high cost of importing energy and raw materials, following the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
Tunisia’s sovereign rating was downgraded to “high risk” by the rating agency Moody’s, which refers to a “risk of debt default”.
Tunis has been negotiating for several months with the IMF to obtain a loan of 1.9 billion dollars. However, discussions between the two parties have stalled since an agreement in principle announced in mid-October.
