Senior officials from the Tunisian government, the Council of Europe, and its member states gathered in the capital on June 11 to mark the official launch of the Council of Europe Neighborhood Partnership with Tunisia for the 2026–2029 period.
The four-year strategic framework underscores a shared resolve to deepen a bilateral relationship that has steadily gained momentum for more than a decade.
“The cooperation between Tunisia and the Council of Europe is based on a shared recognition of the major challenges facing our societies, on common values, and on mutual understanding and respect,” said Claus Neukirch, Director of Programme Coordination at the Council of Europe, in his opening address.
Under the new agreement, the two sides will join forces to tackle emerging threats at the intersection of human rights and technology—including artificial intelligence, data protection, and cybercrime. The partnership also aims to bolster safeguards for vulnerable populations and step up joint efforts against transnational crimes, with a particular focus on human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
The initiative builds on tangible results from the previous cooperation phase (2022–2025), during which Tunisia acceded to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, signed the MEDICRIME Convention to combat counterfeit medical products, and received an invitation to join the Macolin Convention against match-fixing in sports.
TunisianMonitorNews
