Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-01-21-Speech-4-013"
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"en.20100121.2.4-013"2
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"Mr President, Tunisia is a friend and ally of the European Union, a prosperous, progressive, modern and meritocratic secular society unique in the Arab world. Tunisia also rightly takes an uncompromising approach to Islamist jihadi extremism.
A multiparty political system is fast taking shape in Tunisia and it is a country where women are fully equal members of their society. Why then do we seek to alienate Tunisia and its 10 million people? Perhaps because of jealousy at its success, perhaps because it is small and possesses no oil, so, no, there is no economic leverage on the EU, unlike Libya or Saudi Arabia.
In my view, those who have engineered this debate are making a deliberate effort to sabotage much of the progress in EU-Tunisia relations in recent years. It is especially galling that this debate is occurring at the same time as a visit of Tunisian parliamentarians to Strasbourg who are, I think, sitting up there watching this debate.
Tunisia needs our support, encouragement and dialogue, not a constant stream of senseless invective. It is bitterly ironic that the Left, who claim to be so much in favour of women’s rights, attack Tunisia despite the fact that this country offers women opportunities and freedoms unprecedented anywhere else in the Arab world.
The fact that the Tunisian authorities prohibit the wearing of the hijab in public places indicates their determination to protect Tunisia’s values of secularism, tolerance and liberty. We should respect Tunisia as our Euro-Mediterranean advanced partner."@en1
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