In the case of Tunisia, the EU and Tunisian President Kaïs Saied signed a deal called the “Comprehensive Partnership Package”. In fact, the EU’s past and present trade policies towards Tunisia are much to blame for the misery of small-scale farmers and agricultural workers. The unequal economic exchange in agricultural trade relations between Tunisia and the EU is also apparent in the trade in olive oil, one of Tunisia’s top exports. Trade policies favouring European markets will not improve the socioeconomic situation for Tunisians in rural areas. If the EU really wants to address what it calls a “migration crisis”, it needs to rethink its extractive trade policies with the rest of the world, and not enter agreements that only lead to more precarity.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 30, 2023 16:55 UTC