Tunis, seat of the future Union for the Mediterranean ?

French-based Tunisian journalist Wicem Souissi took advantage of Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Tunisia to consider the French president's idea of making Tunis the capital of the future Union for the Mediterranean. "Should one be for or against locating a European institution, and therefore introducing European values, in a country which treads them underfoot? ... Establishing a permanent Euro-Mediterranean body in the middle of Tunis on a long-term basis is a matchless opportunity. Introducing the Trojan horse of democracy in broad daylight is chance to bring authoritarian regimes to learn to cultivate the garden of freedom for the people. ... The Euro-Mediterranean partnership process would thus enter a mindset that is different from the one that currently holds sway: the economic side, which is the initial driver, would be offset by a concrete democratic side."

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