In 2002, speaking in Malta, the then Tunisian Foreign Minister warned the EU of the possible repercussions, on North Africa, of the projected 2004 enlargement. If the funds and investment originally targeted for the Euro-Mediterranean area were diverted to eastern Europe (as was happening already), stability in the Mediterranean would pay a heavy price. In the light of the news from Tunisia over the past week – towering unemployment figures, widespread protests, violence and estimates of a death toll reaching as high as 50, the temporary closure of universities and schools – should we conclude that his words are coming back to haunt us?

Not quite. It is true that, after 2004, the new member states from eastern Europe continued to attract investment that might otherwise have gone south. But, within five years, that scenario had begun to change in important ways.

Membership of the EU enabled eastern Europeans to migrate to other member states, giving rise to a labour shortage in some countries.

Meanwhile, wages rose and became less competitive for investors in industry.

The result was that, when the 2008 crunch squeezed Europe, Tunisia was in a good position to attract European industries that needed to relocate (but, ideally, not too far).

The crisis dented Tunisian exports in 2009, of course, but the country had, as they say, a good recession. Airbus and various auto parts manufacturers ploughed in money; industry exceeded even tourism as a source of foreign revenue.

Economic developments over the past few years have favoured Tunisia’s neighbours, as well. Since 2002, Algeria buried the armed conflict, going back to 1992, between the military and the armed Islamist groups; Libya had the international sanctions lifted. Investment has since poured into Libya, while Algeria, a country some nine times the size of the UK, has seen its important resources in natural gas earn huge revenues as the international price of fossil fuels shot up.

In other words, the fear of investor’s neglect has not been realised. And, one might add, the Euro-Med area has now morphed into the Union for the Mediterranean.

Note, however, what such economic evidence implies for Europe’s interest in what’s happening in Tunisia and the parallel developments in Algeria (where mass protests about unemployment and rocketing food prices are being held).

The greater economic integration with North Africa hardly gives us a licence to see the events as unrelated to us or even to take simply a detached humanitarian interest.

The stability of these two countries has a direct impact on European economies. We should learn to see the Union for the Mediterranean not as a pious hope but as a political framework that is demanded by the degree of economic integration that has already taken place.

It is only in this light that we can properly see the three most salient aspects of the events in Algeria and Tunisia.

First, there is the degree to which we have been let down by the mainstream media. Something is wrong with the Maltese and European media when a story that has been developing since mid-December (in Tunisia) only begins to be widely reported some three weeks later.

Interestingly, the Arabic version of France24 began to report earlier than its French-language counterpart; so the lag has something to do with the perceived interests of the European audience.

But the media are there also to inform the audience what it should consider to be salient. And if a European citizen can only realise the extent of the economic integration of North Africa into the European economy through specialist news sources, it means one of the most important overarching stories of recent years is being missed.

Second, the systemic lack of attention to North Africa (and the Mediterranean) means most viewers and readers are not in a position to judge just how grave the unrest in Algeria and Tunisia is. In both countries, the government and the opposition have made conflicting claims about the violence and responsibility. But even if we take both governments at their word, the measures they are promising to take to placate protestors are dramatic – a sure sign of their evaluation of the challenge before them.

For example, when the Tunisian President promised to generate 300,000 new jobs, he was effectively committing himself to a figure that is just over half the number employed in the entire industrial sector (2009 figures). When one of his ministers announced that $5 billion had been set aside for development, he was mentioning a figure worth five times the annual industrial investment in recent years.

Finally, it is only by being aware of Europe’s stake in North African prosperity and well-being, as well as of the scale of the challenge, that Europeans can be in a position to make demands on their own ministers to see that Europe lives up to its responsibilities. We need North Africa to be in the news every day.

ranierfsadni@europe.com