Tunisia
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Energy: Desertec takes some heat
4 April 2013423PresseuropDer Spiegel -
From the Maghreb: Europe is no longer an inspiration
20 June 201216612 Slate Afrique Paris -
Internet: It’s not real if it’s not online
6 March 2012PresseuropBlog -
European parliament: Sakharov prize for the Arab spring
14 December 201129PresseuropEl Mundo -
Italy: Italian waters still dragged by illegal nets
31 October 2011119 La Repubblica Rome -
Refugees: Asylum in Europe — a mirage across the water
3 August 20113148 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Renewable energy: Desertec to take over from nuclear power
8 June 20112302 Le Monde Paris -
Spain-Tunisia: Short lesson on the weaknesses of democracy
6 June 20111913 De Volkskrant Amsterdam -
Diplomacy: 5 billion to aid Arab revolutions
26 May 201128PresseuropEl País -
Immigration: The French judicial fiasco
3 May 2011PresseuropLibération -
Freedom of movement: The temptation to retrench
26 April 20111381 Presseurop -
Poland: Wałęsa to teach democracy to Africa
14 April 2011PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Asylum: Single entry point is tough to get open
6 April 201175 Dagens Nyheter Stockholm -
Chappatte: Change of status
4 April 201140 Le Temps Geneva -
Immigration : France and Italy's refugee ping-pong
30 March 20112332 La Stampa Turin -
Enlargement: Tunisia, ideal candidate for the EU
30 March 20111725PresseuropLibération -
Italy: Lampedusa immigrant crisis worsens
28 March 2011PresseuropCorriere della Sera -
Editorial: Coping with Gaddafi’s return
14 March 20111524Presseurop -
Mix&Remix: Welcome?
7 March 201138 L'Hebdo Lausanne -
Arab Revolutions: Do it like Zapatero
4 March 20112202 Le Monde Paris -
Editorial: Democracy – but beautiful
25 February 201181Presseurop -
Arab revolutions: Europe's not so wonderful example
24 February 20113522 Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt -
Immigration: Lampedusa, an outpost in the storm
24 February 2011623 La Stampa Turin -
EU-Libya: Gaddafi's last stand, Europe dithers
22 February 2011373 Presseurop -
Arab revolutions: What is really awaiting Europe
21 February 20111631 El País Madrid -
hachfeld: The keeper of Fortress Europe
21 February 201153 Neues Deutschland Berlin -
Arab revolutions: Lady Ashton misses the boat
17 February 201158 Libération Paris -
Arab revolutions: Seven reasons to be hopeful
17 February 20111PresseuropDie Zeit -
Charb: The Arabs are coming
16 February 2011100 Charlie Hebdo Paris -
Meditteranean: A diplomatic challenge
15 February 201185 Der Standard Vienna -
Italy: Arab revolution lands at Lampedusa
14 February 2011104 La Stampa Turin -
IDEAS: Why Arab revolution isn’t 1989 again
10 February 20112513 Lidové noviny Prague -
EU-Middle East: Time to ditch the Arab stereotype
4 February 20115323 Der Standard Vienna -
Stephff: Temperatures rising
3 February 201157 The Nation Bangkok -
EU-Egypt: An opportunity not to be missed
31 January 20111581 Presseurop -
Editorial: Learning from Tunisia
21 January 20111611Presseurop -
North Africa: After Tunisia, rethinking the Med
20 January 20111603 Le Monde Paris -
France-Tunisia: How Paris missed the Jasmine Revolution
18 January 2011711 Presseurop -
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Rise up, erm… stakeholders
18 January 2011PresseuropBlog -
Democracy: Do right by Tunisia this time
17 January 2011111 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
EU and Tunisia: Give Ben Ali the Lukashenko treatment
14 January 2011621 El País Madrid -
EU-North Africa: A tragedy in the making
10 January 2011207 Le Soir Brussels -
Union for the Mediterranean: The Med’s adrift
23 September 201055 El País Madrid -
Religion: The Islamisation myth
28 July 2009812 The Observer London
From the other side of the Mediterranean, the crisis that has struck the Eurozone has dimmed the star of the EU. More than ever divided, inward-looking, and prey to selfish national interests, Europe is no longer a model for a North Africa, which is increasingly inspired by emerging countries. 
The EU banned drift nets in 2002 to protect Mediterranean wildlife and paid out compensation to the fishers. But for many of the recipients, the tuna and swordfish fisheries are far too lucrative. And so they are getting around the ban, with the help of the Mafia. 
Twenty-five refugees have just suffocated in the engine room of a boat bound for Italy. Their deaths are not merely another episode in the decades-old refugee crisis along Europe's southern coasts, but are part of the European strategy for deterring asylum-seekers. 
The end of nuclear power in Germany and Switzerland and reduced tolerance for this energy source in many countries in Europe has given a new lease of life to projects based on renewable energy, like the one backed by a German consortium in North Africa. 
In Tunis, a Volkskrant journalist witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of young Spanish indignados demonstrating outside their embassy. Their dialogue with passing Tunisians offers the basis for a reflection on our political system. 
Battered by the crisis between France and Italy over the north African immigrants who landed on Lampedusa and were blocked at the French border, the Schengen agreements are now being openly questioned by Paris and Rome. On April 26, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi announced they are in favour of “changes” to the accord on the freedom of movement. 
The EU intends to set up some common rules on asylum. The surge in the polls of xenophobic parties in several countries and the influx of migrants from north Africa, however, have combined to make the debate an explosive one. 
Hundreds of North African refugees are continuing to land on the Italian island of Lampedusa off the Tunisian coast, provoking a humanitarian and political crisis. At the same time, hundreds of others are attempting, usually without success, to cross the border between Italy and France, which is their final destination. 
The first European leader to travel to Tunis since the advent of the new regime, on 2 March the Spanish Prime Minister offered financial aid of 300 million euros as well as political support to the North African nation. Le Monde argues that his initiative should set an example for Europe’s response to the democratisation of Arab countries. 
What must a North African currently following news from the “European community of shared values” be thinking? It’s not just that the community's support for the fight for freedom around the Mediterranean has been half-hearted. It’s that it is taking its own members’ violations of the values the community espouses rather calmly. 
Since the middle of February, the Italian island of Lampedusa has welcomed several thousand migrants who have made the crossing from Tunisia. Battling with bad weather and without political support, local people have made the best of limited resources in their attempt to deal with the situation. La Stampa reports from an island on a war footing. 
The bloody repression of the Libyan people by the Gaddafi regime is exacerbating the problem of a Europe faced with revolts in the Arab world, writes the European press, which calls for concrete and coordinated action. 
Terrorism, immigration, the economy: for Europeans, the wave of revolts that have shaken the Arab world is fraught with dangers that are not altogether clear. El País has tried to unravel truth from falsehood. 
On 16 February, Catherine Ashton announced an aid package that will deliver a total of €258 million to Tunisia by 2013. Libération points out that the EU only gave its support for the Tunisian revolution when huge numbers of Tunisian boat people arrived on the coast of Lampedusa. 
The EU is being constantly overtaken by surprises: first by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, then by the onslaught of refugees on Lampedusa. To ward off new ones, the 27 should be considering taking onboard the countries of Maghreb. 
With the collapse of the Ben Ali regime, thousands of Tunisians have caught the boat to Europe. Their landing on the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa and the chaos this has caused foreshadows what could happen on the southern shores of the EU if the migration controls worked out with North African countries were to vanish, worries an alarmed La Stampa columnist. 
The parallel between the popular unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, and the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 is an uneasy one. How can the foundations for democracy in the Arab world be compared with those of Eastern Europe? 
The revolutionary spirit sweeping the Middle East has provoked as much fear as joy in the West. Der Standard questions why is it that we doubt that Arabs have the will or the ability to be the masters of their own destiny. 
After the cacophony and the hesitation that followed the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia, the EU once more seems paralysed in the face of an uprising against the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak. All the same, notes the European press, it’s another chance to support democracy in its Mediterranean “backyard”. 
Aid packages will not be enough if Europe really wants to promote democracy in Tunisia, writes a specialist on Arab affairs, who believes that the EU should reconsider its entire neighbourhood strategy for Mediterranean Arab countries. 
Overtaken by events, slow in supporting the forces of democracy, the French government seemed to be backing the regime of Ben Ali to the very end. Today, it’s having a hard time justifying its position. 
Now that Europe's longtime ally Ben Ali has fled abroad, Tunisia's democratic forces must face off the regime's old guard. This time around, will Europe do the right thing?
In view of the crackdown in Tunisia, the EU ought to apply the same policy of “smart sanctions” that had some sway on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus back in 2006, urges political analyst José Ignacio Torreblanca. 
In turning a blind eye to the corruption, nepotism and human rights violations of North African governments, the EU should share some of the blame for the violence that has recently erupted in Tunisia and Algeria, argues Belgian journalist Baudouin Loos. 
The enthusiasm with which the Union for the Mediterranean was launched two years ago has been steadily waning ever since. The main reason why, says French political philosopher Sami Naïr, is the lack of a serious EU commitment to the region. 
In the wake of the London and Madrid bombings, predictions proliferated in print and on web that Islam was entering a radicial and violent phase. Dire warnings of the imminent “Islamisation” of Europe have turned out, however, to be of little substance, reports the Observer.