tunisia after 14 january and its social and political economy - Refworld

T U N I S I A A F T E R 1 4 J A N U A R Y A N D I T S S O C I A L A N D P O L I T I C A L E C O N O M YT H E I S S U E S A T S T A K E I N A R E C O N F I G U R A T I O N O F E U R O P E A N P O L I C Ydirector of the highly strategic FAMEX (access funds to foreign markets). Even former opponentswho are now members of the Provisional Government not belonging to any party to somedegree support this rhetoric of economic success, while ‘independent’ technocrats areoften former advisors of the regime, such as Mohammed Nouri Jouini , a one-time Minister ofDevelopment and International Cooperation in the governments of Ghannouchi. Others hadalready held important positions in the senior civil service, such as Mohammed Ennaceur, whohad repeatedly served as Minister of Social Affairs, a post which he holds again today. While notall of them had held formal responsibilities under Ben Ali, they still share a mainstream neoliberaland macroeconomic mainstream vision that is completely in line with past policies. They haveoften been lobbyists for the ‘miracle’ abroad, such as Mustapha Kamel Nabli, previously at theWorld Bank previously, now Governor of the Central Bank.On the European side, the situation seems unclear on this subject, for many reasons thatoverlap and already suggest how difficult it will be to change behaviour. 86 The desire to bringabout change by giving clear support to the process of democratic transition is affirmedby all European authorities and undoubtedly reflects a determination to turn the page ofunconditional support for authoritarian regimes. But beyond the statements, the practical andeffective implementation of this new direction seems random and difficult, primarily because5186 All this and the following information on the European Union comes from a mission to Brussels, 29 March– 1 April 2011.