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Tunisian Parliament Questions Six Ministers

General view of the Tunisian parliament (File/Reuters)
General view of the Tunisian parliament (File/Reuters)
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Tunisian Parliament Questions Six Ministers

General view of the Tunisian parliament (File/Reuters)
General view of the Tunisian parliament (File/Reuters)

The Tunisian parliament held a questioning session for six ministers of the government of Hichem Mechichi, during which the current cabinet was heavily criticized.

Most of the ministers remain in their positions without a clear constitutional basis, after President Kais Saeid refused to receive 11 ministers for constitutional oath following the ministerial reshuffle.

The session included the Foreign Minister, the Acting Minister of Local Affairs and the Environment, the Minister of Tourism, the Acting Minister of Cultural Affairs, the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Acting Minister of State Property and Real Estate Affairs, and the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure.

During the session, some parties in the ruling coalition and opposition parties asked Mechichi to visit the parliament and address citizens about the reality of the situation in the country.

Head of the Tahya Tounes bloc, Mustapha Ben Ahmed, said that the plenary sessions with the ministers are frequent and ceremonial, especially in the absence of the prime minister and his failure to address parliamentarians directly. He indicated that Mechichi only listens to some ministers every now and then.

He warned that the situation in Tunisia is very dangerous, coupled with an unprecedented economic and social crisis.

“All political and social parties must assume their responsibility" to get the country out of this dark tunnel, according to Ben Ahmed.

Observers believe that the parliament’s recent sessions are directed in particular at the president after he rejected the ministerial reshuffle.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.