While the visit to Paris by the head of Tunisian diplomacy Nabil Ammar seemed to have gone well, the publication by the Quai d’Orsay of a statement ensuring that the question of rights and freedoms had been addressed provoked a dry reaction. from Tunis.
The visit to France by the Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs gave rise to a diplomatic mini-hiccup between Tunis and Paris. At first, Nabil Ammar and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna had however multiplied the warm messages.
On Twitter, the head of Tunisian diplomacy described the exchange as “full and fruitful”, stressing “the importance of increased consultation” and the “need for an inclusive approach in dealing with issues related to migration, to human mobility, the removal of obstacles relating to the granting of visas to Tunisians and sustainable development”, while his counterpart recalled that “France stands alongside Tunisia and the Tunisians, supports the dynamics of reforms and the development of our relations”.
A very classic exchange of courtesies undermined by the publication by the Quai d’Orsay, on May 30, of a press release reporting on the interview and affirming that the interview “was an opportunity to recall the France’s attachment to public rights and freedoms throughout the world”.
Denial of Nabil Ammar
On Wednesday May 31, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted by assuring that the question of “rights and freedoms” had not been addressed, specifying in a press release that during the meeting, Nabil Ammar had underlined that “the main challenge of Tunisia remains that of economic recovery, and that any skeptical message or negative attitude would only further complicate the improvement of socio-economic conditions in the country”.
Was the subject of rights and freedoms mentioned or not? The question is particularly sensitive, as several local and international NGOs denounce a sharp decline in freedoms in Tunisia since President Kaïs Saïed assumed full powers on July 25, 2021.
The same human rights defenders consider as timorous the position of France with regard to what they describe as an “authoritarian drift” of the Tunisian president: according to them, French diplomacy is part of a long tradition of indulgence of Paris vis-à-vis Tunis .
“Tunisia does not give lessons to anyone”
Nabil Ammar assures us: the subject was not on the menu and was not discussed. He said he insisted on “the return of political stability” in Tunisia and the challenge of economic recovery. For many observers, the main purpose of the minister’s trip to Paris was to ask for France’s support in the difficult negotiations that Tunis has been conducting for months with the IMF in order to obtain a loan .
During his stay, the head of diplomacy also met the Director General of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, as well as Senator LR ( The Republicans) Christian Chambon. During his meeting with the latter, who chairs the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces in the Senate, as well as the France-Morocco interparliamentary friendship group, Nabil Ammar said he “underlined that Tunisia, which give lessons to no one, accept none from anyone ”.
