Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed on Saturday (February 18th) ordered the expulsion of Esther Lynch, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, for statements qualified by Tunis as“flagrant interference”.
Mme Lynch, the European Union’s most senior trade union official, “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 a press release from the Tunisian presidency. The authorities give her 24 hours to leave Tunisia, where she is now considered a “ungrateful person”according to the same source.
Earlier in the day, the European trade union official took part in a demonstration which brought together thousands of trade unionists in the city of Sfax (Centre-Est), at the call of the powerful trade union center UGTT. Come bring the “Solidarity from 45 million workers in Europe”Mme Lynch addressed the crowd gathered in this historic bastion of Tunisian trade unionism. “We say to governments: hands off our unions, free our leaders”she launched.
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 Mosaïque FM radio that Mr.me Lynch were a “defense of the right to unionize and not interference in the affairs of Tunisia”. “We condemn [son expulsion]which brings no honor to Tunisia”he added.
Sit-ins and rallies against Kaïs Saïed’s policies
The demonstration in Sfax on Saturday was organized at the same time as 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, the date of which has been set for February 23, for having launched a strike on tolls. The UGTT announced sit-ins and rallies against Mr. Saied’s policies, culminating in a march in Tunis on March 11.
Tunisia has been mired in a serious political and economic crisis since Mr. 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 Zine El-Abidine 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 – food shortages, high inflation…