Brussels, 06/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday morning, Moncef Marzouki, the acting head of state for Tunisia, was given a formal welcome at the plenary session in Strasbourg. In a speech, both he and Martin Schulz condemned the assassination that morning of one of the important Left-wing opposition figures, Chokri Belaïd.
Moncef Marzouki said that this assassination was “an attempt to destabilise Tunisia”. He added that “those who burned the marabouts (religious teachers) over recent weeks to attack traditional Tunisian Islam are seeking to create confrontation between secular and ordinary pious believers and create difficulties for the coalition in power made up of 'secular moderates' and 'Islamic moderates'”.
In his speech, Marzouki was highly critical of the fundamentalists and their desire to attack the achievements made in Tunisia. Nonetheless, he expressed his hope that the Tunisian people would be able to resist even if the road ahead were “full of pitfalls”. He rejected the description of there having been an “Islamic winter” and said that “there is nothing to fear from the Arab revolutions”. He pointed out that during the Tunisian revolution there had not been any anti-Western or anti-Israel slogans.
He also referred to domestic developments and called for an international appeals body to be set up to tackle breaches of democratic rights.
During the press conference, Schulz expressed his delight at welcoming Marzouki to the European Parliament but regretted the poor European support to countries in transition. He promised that efforts to provide budgetary funding would be made. Marzouki thanked Germany, the only European country to have cancelled Tunisia's debt.
Socialists and Democrats at the European Parliament are calling for the freedoms and fundamental rights of all Tunisian citizens to be respected, irrespective of their political leanings. They also strongly condemn the political assassination of Chokri Belaïd in Tunisia. Véronique De Keyser (S&D, Belgium) has called on the Tunisian authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure that this ghastly crime is fully investigated. The S&D Group added: “We repeat, once again, our demand for a democratic transition, whose fundamental guarantee is based on the rule of law and independent justice and which respects the freedom of expression and pluralism in the media”. The group also pointed out that the state must be the guarantor of respect for dignity, freedom, equality and fundamental rights of all in Tunisia. (FB/transl.fl)