21 April 2011
French foreign minister Alain Juppé offered 350 million euros in aid to Tunisia on Wednesday, in a bid to improve relations between the 2 countries, after what was widely seen as France’s bungled response to Tunisia’s popular uprising earlier this year.
“I know very well that there may have been some delays or some misunderstandings between France and Tunisia. I believe all of that is behind us,” Juppé said, after a meeting with interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi.
Just days before the fall of former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on 14th January, France’s then Foreign Affairs minister Michèle Alliot-Marie shocked Tunisian democrats by suggesting that Paris could help train Tunisia’s hated security forces to control the revolt.
Alliot was later forced to resign, following revelations linking her family to a businessman who was allegedly close to Ben Ali’s regime.
During his visit yesterday, Juppé stressed French approval of the uprising and the resulting new interim government. He talked of “the great movement that was launched from Tunis and is now shaking the Arab world.”
He stated that the 350 million euros in aid would be quickly disbursed for government projects linked to training, unemployment and governance.
And he insisted that France remained open to migrants from Tunisia, though it could not accept illegal immigration, which he described as a “scourge”.
In recent weeks, France has controversially refused to accept automatically Tunisian migrants who have been granted temporary residence permits in Italy.
But Juppé declared that France was “not a closed country,” and reminded his audience that the rate of refusal of visas for Tunisians wishing to visit France was ten per cent.
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France Gives Aid To Country