Tunisia: Labour union briefs Ghannouchi on national dialogue initiative strategy

Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi recently received Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) Noureddine Taboubi at the Bardo Palace, to discuss the union’s national dialogue initiative strategy.

Taboubi informed Ghannouchi of the UGTT’s recent meeting with the president of the republic and the strategy that the union will pursue to activate its national dialogue initiative to find solutions to the current situation in the country.

Ghannouchi reiterated his support for the initiative and for all efforts to engage in dialogue, stressing that this step must be accompanied with a well-formulated process through which concrete results can be reached, in order for the dialogue to deliver solutions and not just mere points of views.

The parliament speaker also welcomed the participation of young people in this dialogue.

He emphasised the need to integrate organisations and structures active on the ground, such as the students’ unions and other active organisations, to ensure that the intended objectives of the dialogue are achieved.

President of the Republic Kais Saied supports the UGTT initiative to conduct a national dialogue aimed at finding solutions to the current challenging situations facing the country.

The UGTT initiative

The UGTT presented to Saied an initiative to launch a national dialogue that includes all national and political actors: “To find political, economic and social solutions to the current situation in our country,” according to a statement by the presidency.

The statement indicated that Saied held a meeting on Wednesday at the Carthage Palace, with the UGTT secretary-general, during a meeting at which the Tunisian president announced: “His readiness to conduct a dialogue to correct the course of the revolution that has deviated from its true path, carved by the people ten years ago, under the slogan: Work, Freedom and National Dignity.”

The statement highlighted: “The need to involve young representatives from all regions of the republic in this dialogue according to a set of criteria to be determined at a later time.”

In a statement issued on 12 December, the UGTT called on Saied for an urgent response to the initiative to launch a national dialogue.

The statement confirmed that the initiative: “Is an alternative to tensions and dispute, constitutes an exit out of the crisis facing the country, and aims to save and protect the civil, democratic and social aspects of the state.”

Jamal Khattab contributed to this report.