LI Statement on the new transition government in Tunisia

The transitional government announced by Prime Minister Ghannouchi, under the banner of a national unity government, excluded the Liberals and the various parliamentary parties, except the movement ETTAJDID (the former Communist Party of Tunisia), the general secretaries of two socialist parties, Mustafa Ben Jaafar of the Forum for Labour and Liberties (Member of the Socialist International) and Ahmed Najib Chebbi of PDP (socialist leaning), as well as the majority of the RCD (the party of the ousted President Ben Ali). It also includes independent figures demonstrating clear socialist orientation. Such government can never be a government of national reconciliation. The Social Liberal Party (PSL) considers the new government as announcement of a new dictatorship on the back of the liberals and the democrats” said  in a statement Mondher Thabet, the leader of the Social Liberal Party (PSL).

The highly anticipated announcement of the acting Prime Minsiter Ghannouchi presented an unexpected surprise. The decision to exclude the Social Liberal Party of Tunisia (PSL), a parliamentary party and a full member of Liberal International, remains unanswered. It raises concerns about the real intention of the new transition authorities of Tunisia. A selective inclusion of political forces is not a government of unity. Exclusion of entire political blocks represented in the Parliament and political mainstreams from the new authorities is a wrong start of a process of building a national consensus over the necessary transition to a true and genuine democracy.  Partial answers to the crisis have been attempted by the previous regime and they failed. What the Tunisian citizens deserve is reconciliation based on inclusive dialogue where all segments of the society and all political mainstreams will be represented

As reported to the Radical Party by the Secretary General of Liberal International, the new Tunisian Government of National Unity remains open exclusively to existing parties and non-parliamentary groups that are of socialist orientation. Outside the new authorities would remain the parties of liberal orientation, such as the Social Liberal Party, as well as all those who in recent years have expressed liberal positions and struggles, and have helped strengthen the dissidence internally and in the Diaspora, encouraging inter alia, radical positions there is no peace without justice, and for nonviolence as a method of resistance to the regime of Ben Ali. If this is the dawn of the new Tunisia it is better that it gets to sunset as soon as possible, and that the European Union, instead of announcing its availability, should end the inertia and begin to fully cooperate, even against the silence of Rome and Paris, in order to meet the highest standards human rights.

Secondo quanto comunicato al Partito Radicale dal segretario generale dell’Internazionale Liberale, il nuovo Governo di unità nazionale tunisino sembrebbe aperto esclusivamente ai partiti esistenti nonché ai grupi extra-parlamentari tunisini purché di orientamento socialista. Dalla nuova compagine sarebbero rimasti fuori i partiti di orientamento liberale, come il Partito Social-liberale e anche tutti coloro che negli ultimi anni da posizioni e lotte liberali hanno contribuito a rafforzare la dissidenza nella e della disapora nonché quella interna promuovendo tra l’altro, assieme all’associazione radicale non c’è pace senza giustizia, la nonviolenza come metodo di resistenza al regime di Ben Ali. Se questa è l’alba della nuova Tunisia occorre che tramonti presto e che l’Unione europea, piuttosto che annunciare la propria disponibilità, rompa gli indugi e inizi a cooperare pienamente anche contro i silenzi di Roma e Parigi perché vengano rispettati i più alti standard dei diritti umani.