Brussels, 27/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The general strike by media in Tunisia on 17 September, following the intimidation and even imprisonment of journalists, has led the socialist group (S&D) at the European Parliament to express concern - although it does this with great moderation. Its cautiousness can be explained by the fact that one of the party members from the government coalition responsible for the attacks on media freedom is a member of the international socialists. Véronique de Keyser, the vice chair of the S&D Group, calls for “a spirit of concord” and calls for the swift application of the new legislative framework for the media.
On 17 September, Tunisian journalists criticised “the determination of the current political power to ignore the new legislation guaranteeing freedom of the press which was adopted after the revolution, and to confiscate the right of the Tunisian citizen to free and pluralist information”. They blame “the responsibility for the anarchy that reigns today in the information sector, and which has enabled politico-financial cartels to get their hands on this sector, on the political powers that be - which have done everything since January 2012 to hinder the reform efforts”. Civil society is fully mobilised against the serious threats weighing on the journalists - threats which are worse than under Ben Ali, according to the word in Tunis - and civil society “calls on all media professionals to close ranks” in order “to crush the efforts at controlling the sector, at stifling the freedom of expression and at disregarding the right of the citizen to have access to information”.
The S&D Group hopes that the work of the constituent assembly - work that is in its final phase - will guarantee that the new regulatory framework is fully in line with international standards. However, this work has currently been interrupted. All parties of democratic tendency have suspended their participation in the assembly and only the Islamist Ennahdha party and its minority allies meet there. The S&D Group press release seems not to take account of this state of affairs and wants the finalisation of the debates on implementing an elections monitoring body and an electoral law, at the risk of appearing to repudiate the people's objection supported by all parties of the democratic opposition. (FB/transl.fl)