Wednesday 21 September 2016

​On 21 September 2016, the President of the Tunisian Assembly of the Representatives of the People, Mohamed Ennaceur, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation and senior officials from the Tunisian parliamentary services, was received by the President of the National Council, Christa Markwalder. In the course of his working visit, which focused on federalism and Swiss parliamentary procedures, the president of the Tunisian parliament also met with members of the National Council Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC-N) and the political institutions committees (PIC-N/S).

Ms Markwalder expressed her sympathy for Tunisia at this difficult time, when terrorist attacks have caused problems in many parts of the country. “The Swiss People are friends of Tunisia and you can count on our support,” assured Ms Markwalder. She also cited the role of parliament, which must have “the moral strength to face up to economic, social and security challenges and thus have special credibility at institutional level”.

For his part, the Tunisian president stressed that Tunisia had put the era of dictatorship behind it and was ready to cooperate on economic matters and on human rights issues. Introducing his delegation, Mr Ennaceur noted that there were members of the Tunisian parliament who lived abroad, including two who lived in Switzerland. This, the president claims, demonstrates the country’s great dynamism.

The delegation had productive talks with the FAC-N. The main topics were the dual track education system and immigration, continuing discussions begun in May 2015, when a delegation from the FAC-N led by Carlo Sommaruga (SP/GE) travelled to Tunisia for a fact-finding visit on migration problems.

The visit to Switzerland also provided the opportunity to establish a Swiss–Tunisian inter-parliamentary friendship group. In 2015, the then President of the Council of States, Claude Hêche (SP/JU), also paid an official visit to Tunisia; these meetings testify to the excellent relations between the two countries.

Media release “Supporting democratisation in Tunisia: parliamentary delegation on study trip in Switzerland”, Bern, 23.09.2016