Tunisia’s parliament has postponed a two-day plenary session that was scheduled to be held on Wednesday to review a set of draft agreements, in a sign of deep differences among parliamentary blocs over two deals with Turkey and Qatar.
Abir Moussa’s opposition Free Constitutional Party and Youssef Chahed’s Long Live Tunes (Tahya Tounes) have opposed these agreements.
The parliament said the postponement of the session, which was set to be attended by the government, was caused by urgent obligations by the ministers involved in striking both agreements, which it said will be discussed in subsequent sessions.
The first agreement with Qatar allows opening a Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) office in Tunis, while the deal with Turkey calls for protecting and encouraging bilateral investment.
“Parliament Speaker Rashid Ghannouchi is exploiting the coronavirus crisis to pass these draft agreements with Qatar and Turkey and impose the hegemony of the Turkish-Qatari alliance on Tunisia,” Moussa told a press conference.
Moussa said she resorted to the administrative court, which considers cases of law breaching and abuse of power.
“I filed a case against this abuse of power and requested the suspension of the decision to refer these draft agreements to the parliament’s plenary session,” she told reporters.
She sent a letter to the Prime Minister in which she noted that these agreements affect Tunisia’s sovereignty, independence and its national economic system.
“They would turn Tunisia into a platform to serve foreign agendas.”
Moussa also requested reviewing all the agreements concluded by previous governments and not yet discussed by parliament, stressing that all deals not serving Tunisia’s interests will not be approved by lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) has warned against exploiting the exceptional circumstances to pass draft agreements struck with other countries.
It said deals that don’t serve Tunisia's interests and affect future generations would be faced by popular rejection.
Long Live Tunes official Mabrouk Korchid expressed concern over the agreement with Turkey.
He said it would allow Turkish nationals to own farmlands in Tunisia despite a law dating back to 1964 prohibiting foreigners from owning farmland in the country.
“Such agreements violate national sovereignty, and approving them is considered a state crime,” Korchid stressed.
The official also revealed that several MPs have expressed reservations over the agreement with Qatar, especially that the “QFFD is suspected to be financing associations with links to terrorist organizations.”
