re: Tunisia: current general situation
Tunis pressed to act on urgent social needs
http://www.rnw.nl/africa/bulletin/tunis-pressed-act-urgent-social-needs
Calls mount for pay hikes in Tunisia
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/02/14/feature-02
Tunisia calls up army reservists to confront unrest
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gs5ioQtWEB9YQwqI0xzo7UFs8Xww?docId=CNG.6bd2b84f308e02c65ed7cf30cebc7a1a.351
The EU's enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fuele, said during a visit to Morocco Tuesday that Europe was keen to support democratic reforms in Tunisia and across the region, including in Egypt where mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak entered their third week.
"We are currently putting in place a transition package at the request of Tunisian authorities and we want to set priorities... that will allow Tunisia to face up to its new needs," he told reporters in Rabat.
"In regards to Egypt (the EU) has requested the preparation of a broad aid package for this country and for the countries in the region," he said.
In a statement, European Parliament lawmakers who had recently returned from a visit to Tunisia called for a donors' conference to be convened, highlighting youth unemployment estimated as high as 50 percent and a 40 percent tourism revenue slump.