On 4 February 2015 the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted the Neighbourhood cooperation  objectives with  Tunisia  for  2015-2017,  which  were  developed  based  on close consultations  between  the  Tunisian  authorities  and  the  Council of Europe. These  objectives establish  the overarching  framework  of  bilateral  cooperation  between  the  Council of Europe  and  Tunisia  and include  the following:

• To  consolidate  the  achievements  of  the  co-operation  implemented  since  2012  through  the  “Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities with Tunisia 2012-2014” and to initiate new areas of co-operation in line with national reform priorities, based on the demand-driven approach, in the fields of expertise of the Council of Europe.
• To continue the efforts made to facilitate the creation of a common legal area between Europe and Tunisia, encouraging the authorities to bring Tunisian legislation into line with European and international standards and to ratify the Council of Europe conventions open to non-member States, with due regard for the procedures set out in the relevant conventions.
• To provide support to the development and to the effective implementation of new legislation in accordance with European and other international standards, according to the identified needs;
• To provide support to the setting-up and to the effective functioning of human rights institutions and new governance structures;
• To  consolidate  Tunisia’s  presence  in  Council of Europe’s  instances  of  which  it  is  already  a  member  or observer (Venice Commission, the European Pharmacopoeia, the Pompidou Group’s MedNet network) and to encourage country’s participation in other Council of Europe structures, according to the identified needs.

In order to implement the abovementioned objectives the Council of Europe has commenced the implementation of the Programme “Towards  Strengthened  Democratic  Governance  in  the  Southern Mediterranean (South Programme II)”, building on the outcomes and achievements of the 1^st phase of the  South Programme  implemented  in 2012-2014. The geographical scope  of the  Programme  covers cooperation  with  countries  of  the  Middle  East  and  North  Africa  (MENA)  region,  but  in  particular Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, who will act as the main beneficiaries.

The  Programme  serves  as  the  overarching  framework  for  Council of Europe  cooperation  with  Tunisia  in  the following three priority  areas:  i)  human  rights;  ii)  rule  of law and  iii)  democracy. The “rule of law” area includes a significant component on “Combating corruption, money laundering and terrorism”, which will be implemented as one of the Programme’s components in the form of a separate Project.