Marzouki restoring relations with France
President Moncef Marzouki met with President Francois Hollande yesterday on a three day trip to boost relations which had suffered because of the perceived closeness of the Chirac and Sarkozy governments to the Ben Ali regime.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Marzouki-restor...
Tunisians were horrified when former French defence minister in the Sarkozy government , Michele Alliot-Marie offreed to help train tunisian riot police to crush the demonstrations jsut before the fall of Ben Ali. She was subsequently forced to resign following revelations linking her family to a businessman allegedly close to Ben Ali's regime who had provided her with free flights during a December holiday while the uprising was under way.
It was time to consign this period to the past as both France and Tunisia need to advance their relations and President Marzouki indictated that there was a far better understanding with the new French government. Francois Hollande assured Marzouki that France would stand by Tunisia during its transition period.
France is Tunisia's largest trading partner and some 600,000 Tunisians live on French territory.More than 1,200 French businesses operate in Tunisia and trade last year rose to 7.6 billion euros ($9.4 billion) from 6.9 billion euros in 2010.
The subject of recovering Ben Ali funds in France and elswhere was brought up and Mr Marzouki received assurances of French help. He offered his personal guarantee for Ben Al's safety and a fair trial should he return to Tunisia to be tried ,but following the extradition of Baghdadi al Mahmoudi to Libya and the fact that Ben Ali has already been convicted to over 60 years of imprisonment he was perhaps not so convincing on this point.
Investors also need to beconvinced that continuing salafist agression will be contained and that a new constitution will clearly define executive powers as clear divisions between the coalition have appeared recently.
After his address to the National Assembly( the first for a foreign head of state since 2006) and a meeting with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Wednesday, Marzouki was to head to the southern city of Marseille on Thursday to meet local officials and members of the Tunisian community.
It was time to consign this period to the past as both France and Tunisia need to advance their relations and President Marzouki indictated that there was a far better understanding with the new French government. Francois Hollande assured Marzouki that France would stand by Tunisia during its transition period.
France is Tunisia's largest trading partner and some 600,000 Tunisians live on French territory.More than 1,200 French businesses operate in Tunisia and trade last year rose to 7.6 billion euros ($9.4 billion) from 6.9 billion euros in 2010.
The subject of recovering Ben Ali funds in France and elswhere was brought up and Mr Marzouki received assurances of French help. He offered his personal guarantee for Ben Al's safety and a fair trial should he return to Tunisia to be tried ,but following the extradition of Baghdadi al Mahmoudi to Libya and the fact that Ben Ali has already been convicted to over 60 years of imprisonment he was perhaps not so convincing on this point.
Investors also need to beconvinced that continuing salafist agression will be contained and that a new constitution will clearly define executive powers as clear divisions between the coalition have appeared recently.
After his address to the National Assembly( the first for a foreign head of state since 2006) and a meeting with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Wednesday, Marzouki was to head to the southern city of Marseille on Thursday to meet local officials and members of the Tunisian community.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Marzouki-restor...