Tunisia: Ennahda calls on government to review state budget

Ennahda yesterday called on the Tunisian government to alter its program and review the state budget in accordance with the implications and risks of the coronavirus pandemic.

This came during a press conference held by the chairman of the Ennahda’s Shura Council, Abdel Karim Al-Harouni, at the movement’s headquarters in Tunis.

Al-Harouni said: “The action plan that was established prior to the coronavirus pandemic is not practical any longer. We need to review the government’s program and the state budget in order to handle an exceptional situation with the appropriate decisions.”

“The government should set a new program and be open to the possible participation of political and parliamentary blocs in the process of designing a new action plan and engage in a national unity government.”

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Al-Harouni called for establishing “a moral and political pact to spare members of the government and the parliamentary blocs supporting the government disputes and conflicts that do not correspond to the spirit of the revolution, the democratic track, or national unity, and allow the government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatens the entire world.”

He stressed the necessity for all members of the government coalition to adhere to the principle of solidarity and joint action, in order to achieve effective work in facing the economic adversities of the current stage, and to thwart all attempts to confuse and curb the democratic track and destabilise the country.

Al-Harouni denounced “the return of misleading media campaigns targeting the emerging democratic experience in Tunisia, through the vilification of state institutions and political actors,” in reference to Facebook campaigns which attack Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi and called for the dissolution of Parliament.

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