EU Security Practices and Democracy Support in Tunisia

This paper examines the European Union’s (EU) security-related practices in Tunisia, assessing their democratic quality before and after the turning point of President Kais Saied’s July 2021 self-coup. Once framed as a democratic success story, Tunisia’s stalled transition and subsequent authoritarian turn tested the EU’s commitment to linking security cooperation with democratic governance. Looking at democraticness as a combination and variation of social embeddedness, empowerment and accountability, the study evaluates whether EU engagement has fostered democratic oversight or reinforced authoritarian practices. Findings show that initial EU efforts at security sector reform largely strengthened unreformed institutions in Tunisia. After 2021, the EU shifted further toward pragmatic security assistance, with migration control dominating the agenda. The 2023 EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding exemplified this trajectory, directing significant resources to Tunisian authorities while excluding civic actors and overlooking systemic human rights abuses. The analysis highlights a pattern of limited democratic (un)learning: EU practices have remained state-centric, opaque and resistant to recalibration in light of Tunisia’s authoritarian consolidation. Rather than embedding democratic accountability, they prioritised short-term stability and border control.