The People of Tunisia paid dearly for this success with tens of deaths and hundreds of people wounded. We salute their memory.  This first victory has to lead to the definitive end of the corrupt dictatorial and oligarchic regime of Tunisia.  
The citizens' revolt aims at real democratic and popular change, with a redistribution of wealth, and they can always count on our solidarity.
The European Left supports the demands of the Tunisian democrats for the liberation of all political prisoners; a general amnesty and the return of exiled people; for free and democratic elections in the next 6 months; for the abrogation of all laws against rights and freedom; for the end of corruption and the bringing to justice of all responsible representatives of this rotten system.
This crisis is also the result of the dictates of the IMF since the 80's and 90’s with austerity budgets for social welfare and wages, privatization for the benefit of employers and injustice and misery for the majority of the people.

The Party of the European Left reaffirms its full solidarity with all Tunisian democrats who are working toward a perspective of social progress and real democracy in Tunisia.

What is happening in Tunisia today is a serious call to order for the EU and its policy of association with the countries in the southern regions. This revolt shows the blatant failure of a policy dedicated entirely to the realization of a Free Trade Zone with neo-liberal objectives devoted entirely to the interests of multinational and private capital, unable to lay out conditions for positive cooperation for the peoples of both sides of the Mediterranean.

The whole Euro-Mediterranean policy must be rethought in view of the severe tensions that we are now witnessing not only in Tunisia but also in Algeria, which in turn, is also being affected by social movements and popular, legitimate demands.

There is no future for the EU without a genuine partnership of mutual interests of the people from both sides of the Mediterranean, along with democratic requirements and equality.  
EL Executive board, 15-16 January, Brussels