Opinion / Mary Fitzgerald
Enough Saied
Tunisia might once have been the poster child of the Arab Spring but more recently the country has had a very tough time. Politicians, judges, journalists, activists and business figures have been detained in the latest round of President Kais Saied’s efforts to consolidate his authoritarian rule. Over the past weeks, Saied (pictured) has resorted to peddling racist conspiracy theories relating to migration from sub-Saharan Africa, triggering attacks on black people living in Tunisia. Yet the EU and Washington have responded to these alarming developments with hand-wringing and little else. Given Tunisia’s proximity to southern Europe (and the fact that Tunisian migrants were among the top-three nationalities risking the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean last year), a more robust response from Brussels is sorely needed.
Tunisia’s slide to autocracy began in 2021 when Saied dismissed the prime minister, suspended parliament and invoked emergency procedures that allowed him to rule by decree. Casting himself as an anti-corruption saviour, he claimed that he was rescuing the country’s democratic transition. Critics accused him of mounting a coup to install one-man rule but others, including many Western diplomats, preferred to wait and see. Saied subsequently replaced Tunisia’s post-2011 constitution with one that grants him sweeping powers over the judiciary.
EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss Tunisia’s situation when they meet on 20 March. The negotiation of a planned International Monetary Fund loan could offer some leverage and might curb Saied’s excesses. Still, Tunisians, who once appreciated Western support for their country’s cause, now fear that their democratic aspirations are less of a priority for a West that is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine. Abandoning Tunisia – so long emblematic of the promise of democracy in the wider region – would be a grave mistake.
Mary Fitzgerald is Monocle’s North Africa correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.