Doorlichting van de Tunesische schuld noodzakelijk
Datum: 14-03-2011
Jubilee's Belgische collega's van CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt) roepen Europese parlementariers op om de Tunesische schuld aan de EU en haar lidstaten door te lichten, nu dictator Ben Ali vertrokken is.
De uitstaande schuld van Tunesië van in totaal $14,4 miljard is een groot obstakel voor de ontwikkeling van Tunesie. Ter indicatie: Af- en rentebetalingen op deze schuld bedragen 6 keer het gezondheidsbudget.
De schuld aan Nederland bedraagt €3 miljoen. Zie ook www.jubileenederland.nl/l/de-cijfers
Lees verder voor de hele oproep van CADTM
For an audit of Tunisia’s debts to the EU
Call to national and European MPs
With dictator Ben Ali ousted from power since 14 January 2011, Tunisia bears the burden of a public external debt amounting to $14.4 bn, which is a major obstacle to the development of the Tunisian people since repayment (capital plus interests) drains on an average an annual sum 6 times larger than the health budget. While Tunisia urgently needs all its financial resources to face the current situation, the present governor of the central bank of Tunisia is considering devoting EU 577 million from the government budget to servicing the public external debt for the year 2011.
Such a degree of indebtedness has not improved people’s living conditions, and the wealth accumulated by the Ben Ali clan over 23 years in power is proof that significant embezzlements took place with the complicity of a number of creditors.
To this we should add the amounts Tunisia has already paid against its external public debt. According to the central bank’s data, from 1970 to 2009 Tunisia repaid 2.47 bn more than it borrowed.
This is why, we the undersigned, Members of different Parliaments of Europe, both at national and European levels, call for an immediate suspension of EU debt repayment by Tunisia (with frozen interests) and an auditing of the debt. The audit, to which members of civil society must be associated, as was the case in Ecuador in 2007-2008, will shed light on what the money was borrowed for, the circumstances in which loan contracts were signed, what conditions were set, and their environmental, social and economic consequences.
The audit will make it possible to identify the illegitimate portion of the Tunisian debt, i.e. the part that did not benefit the people, but it should also serve to prevent a new cycle of illegitimate and unsustainable debt while underlining the responsibility of European creditors, the responsibility of the international financial institution in which the European member States are playing a preponderant role, and the next Tunisian government.
To sign this call, please contact Renaud Vivien from CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt) : renaud@cadtm.org
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