Democrat Bob Menendez and Republican Jim Risch, the two leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying that unless the US and other countries put pressure on Tunisia to restore democratic institutions, “Tunisia will slide into further instability”.
“We urge you to coordinate with our G7 partners to condition assistance on unambiguous democratic reform benchmarks,” the two lawmakers wrote in the letter.
“Further, as the United States evaluates a range of tools to address Tunisia’s democratic backsliding, we ask that you consider sanctions on entities that have engaged in corruption, undermining Tunisian economic and political stability for their own personal benefit.”
“However, many members of the G7 have not conditioned assistance on democratic reforms in the same way as the United States, resulting in uneven or contradictory messages to Tunis,” the letter said.
“The G7 must speak with a unified voice and condition assistance on clear democratic reform benchmarks.”