The European Union’s counterterrorism coordinator was in Tunisia last week meeting with officials to discuss the issue.
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“The Tunisian economy has been hit hard as several governments have now warned their nationals against visiting the country”.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, welcomes Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid upon his arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels on Monday, July 20, 2015.
“We have shown our solidarity since (the pro-democracy protests of) 2011”, Mogherini told reporters.
“We support reforms and we want to form a real partnership so that Tunisia remains a model for the future in the region”, she said.
Romdhane said although they don’t know “when the travel advice will be reviewed,” they are heading back to Tunis content that they have been able to pay condolences to bereaved families of some of the 30 British victims and “to the ordinary British people who have been so kind and supportive towards us.”
The Tunisian central bank said in a recent report that visitor numbers tumbled almost 26 percent in April just after the Bardo Museum attack, while at the same time, the government had to face up to the security challenge, the premier said. The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the Sousse attack.
The EU is willing to mobilise to assist Tunisia in security matters and help boost its economic development, he pointed out.
Advice against travel to Tunisia could be lifted “within weeks” after the Foreign Secretary met with EU foreign ministers yesterday.
Thirty Britons and eight others were killed in the attack when gunman Seffedine Rezgui opened fire on holiday-makers.
Better controls on the border between Libya and Tunisia are “crucial”, Steinmeier said, noting that its more than 600 kilometres are “largely uncontrolled”.
This can be done “bilaterally but as well by Europe as a whole”. Senior Tunisian officials are making an appeal to the UK’s Foreign Office Minister in London Monday to try to convince the UK to drop its travel advisory.
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Maintaining the warning would cause “the biggest economic and social crisis…It would plunge Tunisia into instability and unemployment which will contribute to radical Islamism”, she said.
