Tunis has ordered the departure of Esther Lynch, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. The latter is the highest trade union official in the European Union. The authorities give him 24 hours to leave Tunisia.
Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed on Saturday (February 18th) ordered the expulsion of the European Union’s top trade union official for statements described by Tunis as “flagrant interference”, the latest episode in a showdown between President Saïd and the trade unionists.
“On the orders of President Kaïs Saïed, the Tunisian authorities have ordered the departure of Esther Lynch”, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, the presidency said in a press release.
Esther Lynch “took part in a demonstration organized by the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) and made remarks which constitute a flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Tunisia”, according to the press release.
The authorities give her 24 hours to leave Tunisia where she is now considered “persona non grata”, according to the same source.
“Solidarity”
Earlier in the day, the European trade union leader took part in a demonstration which brought together thousands of trade unionists in the city of Sfax (center-east), at the call of the powerful trade union center UGTT.
Coming to bring “solidarity on the part of 45 million workers in Europe”, Esther Lynch spoke through an interpreter to the crowd gathered in this historic bastion of Tunisian trade unionism.
“We say to governments: leave our unions free, free our leaders,” she said. The Tunisian government must “sit down and negotiate with the UGTT to find a solution” in order to improve the current political and economic situation, she added.
UGTT spokesman Sami Tahri told private Mosaique FM radio that Esther Lynch’s statements on Saturday were a “defense of the right to organize and not an interference in the affairs of Tunisia”. “We condemn (his expulsion), which brings no honor to Tunisia,” he added.
The demonstration in Sfax on Saturday was organized simultaneously with many others in several cities of the country in order to protest against the deterioration of the economic situation and the arrest of Anis Kaabi, head of the highways branch of the UGTT.
The latter is in pre-trial detention pending a trial set for February 23, for having launched a strike on tolls.
The UGTT announced sit-ins and rallies against the policies of Kais Saied, culminating in a march in Tunis on March 11.
Serious political and economic crisis
Tunisia has been mired in a serious political and economic crisis since Kaïs Saïed seized power in July 2021 by dismissing the Prime Minister and suspending Parliament, before dissolving it in March 2022.
He then revised the Constitution to reduce the prerogatives of Parliament and return to an ultra-presidential system similar to that before the 2011 Revolution and the fall of dictator Ben Ali .
His detractors accuse him of establishing a new autocracy in the country which was nevertheless the cradle of the Arab Spring.
In addition to political divisions, the country is experiencing serious economic difficulties, including food shortages and high inflation.
