“Wajibna”

The original is in Arabic; the French and English versions are translations.

““Hope is stronger than despair, and Tunisia will surely return to Tunisians… Today rescue, tomorrow reform.”

— Mondher Zenaidi

Open letter to all Tunisian men and women,

“Ready”

My brothers, my sisters, children of our beloved homeland,

Never before has our country lived through a state of frustration, collapse and blocked horizons like the one it is living through today under the rule of populism, incapacity and failure. Tunisia is a country that has lost its smile and its confidence in the future…

A country groaning under the weight of an injustice that has spread into every area of life. Political injustice that has targeted opponents and those who speak freely, with whom the prisons and detention centres are now filled… and social injustice that has caused broad sections of Tunisians to slide into poverty and destitution.

My participation in public affairs in our country has always been grounded in respect for institutions and laws, however restrictive they were and however much they served the interests of particular groups. I refused to wage battles of discord, to feed hatreds and to divide Tunisians; my wish was, and remains, to bring Tunisians together against division, incapacity, failure and despair, and for a society of duty and a dignified life… a society that leaves no Tunisian by the roadside.

At a time when the struggle for power is raging between one who clings to it to the point of despotism and the implementation of the “replacement plan” — replacing competence with mediocrity, responsibility with recklessness, and building with demolition — and one who seeks it without grasping the delicacy of the moment and the gravity of the responsibility, I have chosen to respect the intelligence of Tunisians and the sovereignty of their decision, and to address them with substance that places them at the heart of the concerns, strategies, contests and battles, in order to find solutions to their problems, improve their circumstances and provide the conditions necessary for the country to take off towards a better future.

The “Wajibna” project is, above all, an argument against all those who brandish the spectre of a vacuum and of a further deterioration of conditions after populism departs. There will be no collapse after the collapse, and no vacuum after this vacuum being lived by a State whose pillars have been undermined by mediocrity and recklessness.

We are ready to shoulder the responsibility entrusted to us, from whatever position Tunisians see fit. And we will push towards rescue and reform within timeframes that take account of the urgency of the situation and of the necessity of carrying out reforms that are long overdue.

The “Wajibna” project is a Tunisian choice par excellence, in its conception, its adaptation to reality and its implementation… a sovereign choice for a homeland that we are rebuilding with Tunisian minds and hands that beg no sympathy, interference or support from any party, whatever its standing or influence, but rather command respect and restore due regard for Tunisian intelligence and national talent. A salute, then, of appreciation, thanks and gratitude to everyone who contributed to preparing this project through drafting, correction, critique and enrichment.

The “Wajibna” project is also a contribution to rationalising and developing political practice in our country; it breaks with the logic of polarisation, the clash of narcissisms and the war over positions, and refocuses action on projects, programmes and what benefits people.

The “Wajibna” project is a book open to all, put forward every day for amendment and development, in keeping with the changes in the world and the needs of the nation.

Children of our beloved homeland: the winds of rescue and reform are coming without fail, and their fragrant breezes will blow over our country… So be with us, for Tunisia.

God Almighty said: “And Allah knows the corrupter from the amender.” [Qur’an 2:220 — translation of meaning]

May God protect Tunisia.

Mondher Zenaidi

Stage one: “The time of rescue”

Laying the foundations of a society of duty.

Our coming struggles, until injustice and the rule of reckless populism come to an end, and for our people’s right to a better life, fall within three axes:

Legal and rights axis: We will wage against populism every legal battle available, locally and internationally. We will spare no effort in exposing it as a system that stands outside the law and in defending our right and our people’s right to free and fair elections and to choose the person most worthy of leading the country. At the same time, we will defend the right of all Tunisians to dissenting opinion and to peaceful, democratic opposition, and we will press for an end to the injustices against free voices, for the release of prisoners of opinion and for the accountability of those who have wronged this people through the policy of exclusion and systematic muzzling. Our country abounds in highly competent people and in knights of freedom, who are a national asset that must be preserved and strengthened, so that they truly form the striking force in today’s battles and tomorrow the impregnable shield against every attempt at deviation, regression and manipulation of the law, bending it to undermine the State of law and institutions and to monopolise power. “Justice is the foundation of civilisation”, as the Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun says.

Political and economic axis: Populism has assassinated democracy and killed politics in our country. There are no parties, no civil society, no activists, no dissenting opinion, no free media, no competition over programmes and projects, and no oversight or accountability of the ruling authority. Activists, opponents, journalists, bloggers and candidates for election languish in prison instead of contributing to energising and enriching public life and strengthening democratic construction. Despite our absolute condemnation of this odious populist approach and of the catastrophic effects it has had on the country’s political life, we renew our repeated calls to all political actors (from the opposition, or among those who held responsibilities in the past) to undertake the necessary self-reviews and to break with practices that led them away from people’s concerns and contributed to entrenching negative attitudes towards politics and politicians, and to people’s withdrawal from public affairs.

Populism, which lacks long-term vision and has entrenched short-sightedness, has destroyed our economy, abolished free enterprise, deepened poverty, weakened the citizen’s purchasing power and burdened him with taxes. Mediocrity is not a choice, nor a point of view, nor a fate that Tunisians must accept.

Populism uses politics to conceal the economic and social failures and crimes it commits against our people, whereas we see politics as the cause, the justification and the goal for achieving the triad of “freedom, security and dignity”.

We will strive from where we stand — using peaceful and lawful means and our working methods, through which we have always taken care to add value and solutions and not to contribute to complicating the situation or threatening the country’s security, stability and unity — we will strive to raise awareness and to push for our country to recover a sound, refined and democratic political life worthy of it and of our people’s aspirations to a better tomorrow. God willing, we will bring our proposals and our solutions into every home and every institution, so as to present to Tunisians what populism sought to encircle and conceal in the “elections of exclusion”.

We will make every day of the year a test between what populism proposes — or rather what it “does not propose” — and the solutions we propose to all the issues that occupy Tunisians’ minds, in cooperation and solidarity with all those who have decided not to surrender to failure, incapacity and mediocrity.

Our project continues, God willing, and will not be stopped by the machinery of repression, intimidation and fabricated cases. We have, praise be to God, what populism does not have: a civilisational vision, a political project and a new economic, social and development programme for Tunisia, in which Tunisia has its place among nations and the individual has their place, which lays the foundations for a new social contract built on reconciliation between the citizen and the State, revives hope and establishes a culture of success, work and merit… Whoever wishes to serve Tunisia can serve it from any position, and not necessarily from the seat of power.

We have pledged to launch a national rescue programme; it certainly will not be launched today from within the apparatus of the State, but through a network of Tunisian experts and talents… We want to help young Tunisians integrate into the digital economy, and to help small businesses meet difficulties, build partnerships and benefit from comparable success stories; we want to help vulnerable groups cope with life’s hardships through a programme of mutual aid and solidarity that strengthens the spirit of solidarity and unity among Tunisians… We want to establish a new concept of political action, based not only on seeking to reach power but on serving the common good and the citizen from any position…

As the poet Mahmoud Darwish said: “In our land, we have work to do.”

This project is one we can achieve with the contribution of every Tunisian who wishes to build the Tunisia of the future: the Tunisia of peaceful coexistence, a Tunisia of solidarity, a Tunisia reconciled with its past and its present, a tolerant Tunisia with room for all Tunisians, however their ideas and orientations differ…

Societal and citizen axis: This is the axis that forms the first stage of rescue. However deep the disappointment and the loss of hope, no one who cares for this homeland may assume the role of spectator before painful conditions that grow worse and more complex every day… And what would we gain from the end of populism if its price were a total collapse from which the country would suffer for generations? Populism will not give up if the people give up. The resignation of the people and the surrender of its elites are the best gift we could offer populism; whereas rousing the people and contributing to building a “society of duty”, entrenching a work ethic, rewarding merit and aspiring to a better Tunisia — that is the call that announces the end of populism. This will be done by encouraging free citizen initiatives that benefit the country and its people and are free of any political or ideological exploitation, and which can in no way be classed among the narratives of “foreign agency, treason and conspiracy” that populism has habitually levelled at anyone who disagrees with it (for example, and without being exhaustive: improving health services in a given region, restoring and maintaining schools, especially in underprivileged areas, providing transport for pupils in remote places, consoling and accompanying a family or families struck by disaster, awareness campaigns in stadiums against violence, encouraging civilised and responsible behaviour on the road, combating harassment in the workplace, warning about the dangers of blackmail and human trafficking via social networks, or taking the initiative to provide in-kind aid to families in need…)

Whether individual or collective, aimed at persons, groups or institutions, material or awareness-raising, occasional or sustained over time, at home or abroad… these initiatives, bound together by a common thread in the form of a “label” bearing the name “Wajibna”, aim to:

• Strengthen the people’s immunity against despotism and absolute rule.
• Contribute collectively to guarding against the risks of total economic and social collapse.
• Multiply the occasions that unite Tunisians and remind them of their shared destiny, especially where the nation’s constants are concerned.
• Create a collective awareness that the country deserves better, that populism is not an inevitable fate, and that we are all in one boat: if it is saved, we are all saved.

This will be achieved once we understand that populism is a deviation from the idea of the people; multiplying such societal and citizen actions would give the people back its voice and its initiative… For whenever the people speak, populism falls silent.

These three commitments (legal and rights-based, political and economic, societal and civic) we will uphold, God willing, until we achieve a goal from which no particular person, group, party, region or foreign party will benefit, but the entire Tunisian people; a goal that unites and does not divide, that brings good tidings and does not repel, that builds and does not destroy: namely, the organisation of genuine, free, fair and democratic elections without exclusion, in which Tunisians take part in large numbers and choose the person most worthy of leading the country and of realising our people’s aspirations to security, stability and prosperity.

Stage two: “The time of trust”

Restoring trust, rehabilitation and securing the transitional stage.

Preamble:

All forecasts and analyses indicate that Tunisians will suffer a great shock when they discover the scale of the devastation that the system of incapacity and failure will leave behind after its departure… An organised and continuous destruction that has left no vital field unharmed. Managing the period after populist rule will not be easy, and whoever seeks power must be aware that they will find themselves facing a state of unprecedented devastation, that there is no room for random, reckless and risk-laden experiments, and that the country will not withstand a new failure that could lay waste to everything, the green and the dry alike.

The post-Kais Saied stage must be managed effectively, swiftly and purposefully. It is a stage being prepared from now, so that the country can embark on the reform project without wasting time floundering and searching for alternatives, and so that the departure of populism does not turn into a feverish struggle over legitimacies and into battles for influence and positions, for which our country is still paying the price today.

Just as our contribution will be great and of high quality in the stage of rescue and of ending populist rule, we will not fall short of our duty in the stage of restoring trust and of reform, and of shouldering the responsibility entrusted to us, whatever the position in which we find ourselves; and we will push to secure all the conditions for the success of a new transitional stage that the country will go through, provided that this time it is a safe bridge across which we pass to a bright future for a country we want to be stable, secure and prosperous.

We envisage dividing the transitional period after populist rule into two stages, each achieving known and defined aims that lead the country to a safe shore.

The stage of restoring trust: through a series of swift measures aimed at putting an end to the social and economic injustices on the one hand, and the political and legal injustices on the other, caused by the system of incapacity and failure, of which many Tunisians have been victims and for which they have paid the price in poverty, deprivation, marginalisation, unemployment, tragic accidents, desperate solutions and prisons… No country can rise while a large part of its people does not eat as others eat, does not enjoy equal opportunities for a dignified life as others do, and does not enjoy its freedom and its fundamental rights as others do. The stage of urgent measures in the first six months is a necessary stage: in addition to its material, legal and regulatory character, it carries symbolic, human and psychological dimensions that help to heal from the disease of despotism and mediocrity and to be rid of its direct and indirect after-effects, so that each Tunisian regains trust in their fellow Tunisians, in their society, in their elite and in their State and its institutions.

The stage of rehabilitation and of securing the transitional stage: The most pressing of the tasks we must hasten to accomplish is to restore hope to our people in all its components and groups, so that “positive thinking” takes the place of pessimism and “catastrophic thinking”; this will then be followed by the stage of initial reforms targeting a set of sensitive and vital sectors… which, to borrow another medical metaphor, may be regarded as a stage of “rehabilitation”, through which our economy regains its competitiveness, our administration regains its effectiveness, our society regains its vitality, and the Tunisian individual regains their ambition and their desire to take initiative, to try and to invest… A stage whose aim is to restore Tunisians’ confidence in the future.

The programme we present to Tunisians we have chosen to divide into priorities, from which branches a series of measures, some immediate, others in the first months or during the first two years after populist rule.

The programme is not a revealed Qur’an, nor a social, economic and political inevitability; it is an exercise of reasoned judgement that seeks to show Tunisians that mediocrity is not their fate, that inevitable failure is not their destiny, and that incapacity is not their only option… A programme open to development, taking account of their needs and responding to national and international developments and to the requirements of participation, which we hope will be broad and rich in this national effort.

01Priorities after populist rule, in the first two years:

• Legal and rights priority: establishing the Constitutional Court; enshrining the principle of the separation of powers while preserving the balance between them; restoring the standing of the Tunisian judiciary as an independent authority that upholds rights and guarantees justice; releasing political prisoners and dissidents of opinion; and repealing all arbitrary decrees and measures restricting freedom of expression, of the press and of the media.
• Economic and social priority: finding urgent solutions for the sources of public financing, reviving the economy and improving confidence in the business climate; encouraging initiative and foreign and domestic investment, and stimulating small and medium-sized enterprises to achieve sustainable growth; improving the level of public services so as to make Tunisians’ lives easier and to raise our country’s competitiveness and the returns of the tourism sector in line with international standards; improving education services and providing high-quality education that respects the principle of equal opportunity among all the nation’s children, and restoring education to its central place at the heart of national choices; improving the quality of transport services and moving to healthy, environmentally friendly means of transport; providing health security and healthcare facilities, and guaranteeing their accessibility, acceptability and quality for all Tunisians; fighting all forms of corruption, the rentier economy, clientelism and favouritism; announcing a protective plan to combat poverty and unemployment and to improve purchasing power, and rehabilitating distribution channels so as to guarantee the availability of basic goods; and addressing the phenomenon of migration from and to our country, in particular — and urgently — curbing the haemorrhage of emigration of the country’s young people, its doctors, its engineers and its talent, who are Tunisia’s true wealth.
• Political priority: securing democratic construction and rebuilding democratic institutions so as to immunise our society once and for all against every attempt to return to despotic practices and absolute rule.
• Environmental priority: one that takes account of the serious repercussions of climate change on Tunisia and draws up an urgent national plan to curb the degradation of the environment caused by the accumulation of dirt and waste in every governorate, to spread an environmentally friendly culture, and also to achieve energy and water security for our country.
• Societal and cultural priority: establishing a “reconciliation process” among Tunisian men and women, as individuals and as institutions; breaking with vindictive and exclusionary behaviour and with the fuelling of hatred among the children of one people. For while the right to differ guaranteed by the Constitution and the law must be respected, we must observe the duty of calm, of unity of ranks and of rejecting violence in all its forms, in order to meet internal and external challenges. This can only be done by replacing the culture of mediocrity and incapacity with a culture of work and of rewarding merit, raising the level of public taste, supporting the cultural economy, encouraging artistic, literary and creative works, restoring due regard to the field of sport in its conception, its support and its investment, and above all betting further on Tunisia’s youth, for they are the ones who will breathe a new spirit and the hope of victory into the battle for the future.
• Sovereignty and diplomatic priority: restoring the country’s image abroad and the credibility of the Tunisian position on all issues; never bargaining with the nation’s sovereignty and constants; and regarding Tunisians abroad as an integral part of our national identity, whose loyalty to the homeland, defence of its sovereignty and support for it in its darkest periods no one has the right to question.

We have taken great care to embody these priorities in a series of concrete and urgent measures and of reforms in the near (urgent) and medium term. These choices aim to address the needs of the citizen who has been marginalised in recent years, and to restore standing to the citizen and to our Tunisian State.

Through these practical proposals we aim to restore economic balance and to rescue public finances by achieving an effective and sustainable model, while opening up prospects for growth and development. The economic problems and the deterioration of the citizen’s purchasing power from which Tunisia suffers are the direct result of an accumulation of mistaken economic policies and of the narrow view of strategic international relations pursued by the current regime, and of the absence of any real vision or long-term plan to give our country a distinguished place among nations.

02First measures and reforms:

Urgent measures to restore trust: (immediate reforms: implemented in the first days, weeks and months)

• An amnesty for all prisoners convicted in cases of opinion and in political cases.
• Forming a committee of experts in constitutional law and representatives of civil society to make the necessary constitutional amendments and to submit them to Tunisians or to their representatives.
• Repealing Decree 54, which restricts freedom of expression.
• Setting up the Constitutional Court.
• Taking care to restore due regard to the administration and to its pivotal role in the reform and rescue project, within the framework of a comprehensive, realistic and fair reform programme.
• Raising the minimum wage to 600 TND and linking increases to the rising cost of living — food and drink, health, education, housing, transport and the requirements of a dignified life — and to the outcome of social negotiations.
• Granting families on limited incomes access to easy-term consumer loans without interest.
• Reducing electricity and water bills by 50% for families on limited incomes.
• Creating a national solidarity fund, “Tunisia for All”, and beginning the implementation of a national plan to fight poverty.
• Raising the ceiling of cover provided by the National Health Insurance Fund (the proposal forms part of a comprehensive reform of the social security funds in the medium term).
• Accelerating payment of the sums owed by the National Health Insurance Fund to its members.
• Setting up dedicated geriatric consultation departments for the elderly in the hospitals of every governorate, in order to reduce waiting times for the elderly and to facilitate their referral to other specialities.
• Free school textbooks at every level of primary and secondary education, to reduce the school drop-out rate.
• Providing school transport for deprived regions and in rural and isolated areas.
• Providing and organising transport for women agricultural workers, and beginning the implementation of a plan that puts a definitive end to this problem.
• Launching the young farmers programme to provide support and guidance to young people with agricultural projects.
• Launching the temporary programme to support farmers by providing feed, fertilisers and medicines at preferential prices, and by providing lines of financing for farmers.
• Launching an urgent programme to upgrade distribution channels, develop inspection bodies, digitise the sales system in wholesale markets and reduce the levies charged there, in order to bring prices under control.
• Raising university grants by 50%, broadening the base of beneficiaries and granting students an additional year in university housing.
• Creating a special legal status for self-employed workers (freelancers) and facilitating their work by applying a single flat-rate tax. This regime also includes the possibility of opening a convertible foreign-currency account with a maximum ceiling of 100,000 dinars per year.
• Taking urgent measures to save the ecosystem from the violations it suffers on land, at sea and in the air, as part of enshrining the citizen’s right to a healthy environment and the duty to preserve it.
• Launching a national youth dialogue to restore trust and to learn about young people’s priorities.
• Reactivating the role of national organisations and bodies, intermediary institutions and the network of the social fabric (the labour union, the employers’ organisation, the student unions, the professional orders…) within a participatory, interactive approach that respects the limits of each party’s competences and its independence.

Rehabilitation programme (implemented over two years):

Restoring economic balance and strengthening social safety nets:

• Designing appropriate fiscal and monetary policies and the necessary structural reforms in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, within the framework of a three-year reform programme backed by international partners.
• Designing a parallel reform programme, in coordination with the International Monetary Fund programme and within a development plan, to build an inclusive and integrative development model able to create jobs for every kind of labour, founded on the principle of economic efficiency, social justice and sustainability, able to achieve high levels of growth, development and social welfare, and founded on:

The principle of economic efficiency, through:

• Improving the business climate and competitiveness, and moving from a rentier economy to an economy of competition.
• Cleaning up the investment climate and removing administrative obstacles.
• Activating the role of the banking system, the Deposits and Consignments Fund and the Local Authorities Financing Fund, so as to direct their efforts and programmes towards financing development in the regions and supporting projects aimed at young people and at small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Directing investment towards sectors of sovereign priority and high added value, such as new technologies and artificial intelligence, learning and entertainment applications, the pharmaceutical industries, and the manufacture of automotive and aircraft components…
• Drawing up an integrated plan to revive the real-estate development sector.
• Encouraging the use of renewable energies in businesses and among individuals through financial and tax incentives.
• Improving governance practices in the mining sector, adopting an ambitious policy of industrial upgrading for the public enterprises and establishments operating in the field of energy and hydrocarbons, and treating energy efficiency as one of the national priorities.
• Tackling the growing shortfall in the energy sector caused by rising demand and the depletion of reserves, by supporting the rationalisation of energy consumption, encouraging the use of renewable energy in every economic field, and promoting the mining sector by putting in place an investment-oriented policy.
• Applying a fixed tax in sectors that are strategic and promising for Tunisia, such as new technology, the environment or energy, in order to attract investment and encourage entrepreneurship in these fields. (Flat tax).
• Promoting Tunisia’s attractiveness as a regional hub for health and cultural tourism and for higher education (restructuring tourism establishments, drawing up a plan to address the sector’s indebtedness, and promoting training and marketing programmes).
• Developing agricultural investment and working to achieve food security.
• Creating regional economic ecosystems that make the most of the capacities of each region, within a regional and international positioning, so as to exploit the fields with high competitiveness.
• Containing the parallel economy.

The principle of social justice, to improve the citizen’s living conditions and equal opportunity between groups and regions, through:

• Reviewing the system of digital social transfers and rationalising it according to the needs of the target groups.
• Launching a national programme to support and assist vulnerable groups and people with special needs.
• Supporting the system of continuing training and professional advancement, so as to develop competences and skills.
• A comprehensive reform of the social security system to secure its continuity and improve its services.
• Continuing to support contractual policy, reviewing the joint sectoral agreements and broadening their scope in line with developments in the economic field.
• Putting in place an institutional and legislative framework for social dialogue that ensures continuous consultation and coordination, so as to guarantee a healthy social climate.
• Supporting and developing the occupational medicine system and spreading a culture of occupational safety.
• Improving the quality of services in the local and regional social-affairs administrations by strengthening effective partnership with civil society.
• Improving the rate of coverage by field social workers in line with international standards.
• Establishing mechanisms for the economic inclusion of needy families, aimed at reducing the rate of extreme poverty and at a safe exit from the circle of emergency social-assistance programmes.
• Founding new mechanisms of social policy that rely on the financing the various social partners can provide, within a solidarity-based and participatory economic model.
• Reducing the deficit of the social security funds, which has come to threaten the stability of the social protection system, and the deprivation of the majority of Tunisians of the right to social coverage, which does not exceed 42 per cent of the total population, through a comprehensive and integrated approach: an economic recovery policy aimed at raising the growth rate, improving the level of employment and providing new resources; broadening the base of contributors (gradual and conditional inclusion of the informal sector); improving electronic services and digitising the social security fund; and reviewing social and financial policies so as to strike a balance between the need to rationalise public spending and care for vulnerable groups.
• Creating a Higher Council for Migration to serve as the supreme regulatory body managing the migration file from a strategic perspective.
• Drawing up an effective communication plan to build bridges with the members of the Tunisian community in all the countries of emigration, and to open the way for them to benefit from all the opportunities their country offers its children at home and abroad, in every field (study, work, investment, culture, political and civic action…).

Achieving these aims requires a package of necessary structural reforms over the first 24 months, to raise the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy, among them:

1. Reform of the tax system,
2. Reform of the investment and export system,
3. Reform of the banking system,
4. Reform of the subsidy system,
5. Reform of the social coverage system,
6. Reform of the system for developing human resources,
7. Reform of public enterprises,
8. Administrative reform,
9. Restructuring of the fabric of industrial enterprises,
10. Restructuring of the tourism and handicrafts sectors,
11. Comprehensive agricultural reform.

Giving priority to the reform of the education system, the health sector, transport and climate change:

• Launching a programme to develop the system of curricula for education, qualification and training, and providing the institutional framework that guarantees its continuity and the extension of its application to cover the various categories of occupations, in line with the requirements of the labour market.
• Supporting the budget allocated to scientific research.
• Strengthening the standing of vocational training and encouraging outstanding young people to take it up.
• Reforming the health sector and improving the working conditions of medical and paramedical staff.
• Increasing the number of university hospitals.
• Creating multimodal transport hubs that ensure the smooth, rapid and low-cost movement of goods.
• Modernising the railway network linking the north with the south, the coast with the interior governorates, and the Maghreb capitals.
• Modernising and developing airports and ports, and creating logistics zones at vital locations that ensure the smooth movement of goods and passengers.
• Formulating a new vision of collective public transport in the large cities and in the interior regions, one that ensures the inclusion and integration of the sector and its users and relies on partnership between the private and public sectors.
• Launching the national strategy to tackle climate change and to achieve energy and water security.
• Putting in place an effective recycling and waste-collection system through partnerships between the public and private sectors.
• Applying strict penalties against anyone who does not respect the environment and disposes of waste irresponsibly.
• Embarking on a national reforestation programme to revive our lands and strengthen our cities and our forests.
• Putting in place an urgent programme to reduce the pollution of Tunisia’s seas and beaches, in cooperation with the specialised international bodies.
• Preparing a comprehensive national plan to address the phenomenon of stray animals, such as stray dogs and cats, including vaccination and sterilisation campaigns, the creation of shelters, a ban on indiscriminate killing, and the enactment of clear laws against the torture and ill-treatment of animals. Measures that respond to a growing social demand from broad sections of citizens, given their importance in terms of health (curbing diseases such as rabies), the environment (preserving the ecological balance in cities) and humanity (strengthening the values of compassion and coexistence)…
• Implementing a large-scale investment programme in cooperation with the private sector and international partners, aimed at modernising equipment and stopping water leaks.
• Creating a database on water consumption and quality, and beginning a comprehensive audit of our country’s water resources.

Resuming relations and constructive dialogue with the international financial institutions and with Tunisia’s historic friends:

• Resuming talks with the International Monetary Fund and the global financial institutions, so as to ensure the flow of foreign investment, restore confidence in the Tunisian economy and carry out major projects in the regions.
• Reconsidering our country’s foreign policy and adopting an active, proactive, rational and sovereign policy to widen the circle of its presence and influence at regional and international level. A multidimensional foreign policy that takes account of Tunisia’s geopolitical, strategic, economic and cultural choices and ensures that national interests are achieved in the short, medium and long term.
• Safeguarding the country’s national sovereignty and supporting its democratic course, achieving its sustainable and inclusive development, adopting a foreign policy founded on parity and on respect for national constants and interests, and working to entrench its lasting radiance and its strong interaction with its Maghreb, Arab, African, Mediterranean and European surroundings and with the international community in general, so that Tunisia remains the beacon of the Mediterranean and a supporter of the causes of peace and justice in the world, foremost among them the cause of the Palestinian people in recovering its occupied land and in determining its own destiny.
• Adopting economic diplomacy as one of the constants of our country’s foreign policy, by strengthening the role of diplomatic missions in attracting foreign investment, promoting the investment climate and the investment opportunities available, supporting efforts to promote Tunisian exports, strengthening the competitiveness of our national products and opening new markets for them. Improving the level of support, care and services for Tunisia’s sons and daughters abroad, so as to improve the conditions of their residence abroad and provide the conditions for a safe and comfortable return to their country, and regarding them as an integral part of the national constants and a decisive element in reviving our national economy, developing our country’s wealth and improving its image abroad.
• Developing diplomatic action and making use of Tunisia’s strategic location to transform it gradually into a base for a regional economic and logistics centre.
• Strengthening Tunisia’s position as a privileged partner of the European Union, and raising the partnership to make it balanced, fair and beneficial to Tunisia’s economy.
• Widening the circle of economic and trade partnerships on the basis of diversity and profitability, particularly in the Maghreb, Arab and African surroundings, and investing in particular in the economic renaissance in the Arab surroundings.
• Reviving relations with international partners, and especially with friendly countries, so as to open up prospects for new opportunities for Tunisia abroad.
• Working to recover the national community’s looted funds held abroad, by activating the proper legal, international and diplomatic channels.
• On the thorny issue of migration, a comprehensive participatory approach will be put forward that goes beyond the narrow security dimension and takes into account, first and foremost, the protection of the homeland and the protection of the Tunisian community from being targeted, and that takes into account the diplomatic, economic and humanitarian dimensions of this phenomenon, in a way that respects the interests of all and preserves the dignity of our sons and daughters.

Fighting corruption and developing governance:

• Digitising the judiciary and modernising the management of the public justice service in the age of digital transformation, in order to improve the functioning of the courts, achieve greater effectiveness in the delivery of legal services and ease the crisis of judicial congestion. The judicial system needs deep reforms that enshrine justice as a public service close to the citizen, guarantee transparency and integrity in judicial work, strengthen trust in the institutions of the State and help to consolidate the values of right and justice.
• Reviewing legislation with a view to setting maximum time limits for ruling on corruption cases.
• Enhancing the capacities of the judicial service and raising the human, material and technological capacities of the financial judicial pole.
• Merging the oversight bodies into one central structure and building its capacities, while keeping internal audit units within the ministries.
• Simplifying customs procedures and supporting their transparency.
• Completing the digitisation of the internal system in the ports and continuing to upgrade it in line with international standards.
• Making use of the digital transformation to launch a broad urban and peri-urban planning project, which necessarily involves a land survey that guarantees and defines property rights clearly and precisely, reduces congestion, unauthorised street trading and pollution, and helps to improve the level of services and to manage resources more effectively.

Stage three: “The time of structural and strategic reforms”

The “Wajibna” reform project:

Moved by our concern at what the country’s situation has come to — a total collapse and an unprecedented frustration that has grown sharper and fiercer since populism deprived Tunisians of the opportunity to improve their circumstances through the democratic mechanism; believing in the need to put to positive use all the gains of independence, the achievements of the national State and the Revolution of Freedom and Dignity; as our contribution to rebuilding the pluralist republican system whose pillars have been undermined by the system of incapacity, mediocrity and failure; and in keeping with the choice of rescue and reform around which we came together months ago with a group of national figures, young people of burning ambition and high competence, and a number of representatives of the country’s living forces — we hereby put forward a programme as a new step towards establishing a deep and comprehensive dialogue among ourselves and with all who respond positively to us, with the aim of bringing Tunisian men and women together around development choices and political prospects that offer an alternative to the state of misery, frustration, collapse and division into which the country has sunk under the rule of recklessness, mediocrity and despotism.

We address them and invite them to join this initiative in earnest and to take care to broaden its scope, so that it opens up to all competences and national forces — locally, regionally, nationally and abroad — in a spirit of solidarity and of reshaping the national consensus against the dangers of despotism and recklessness, in accordance with the following shared fundamental principles, and so as to achieve the following shared fundamental aims:

• Our deep sense of full responsibility, together with all the political, social and cultural forces, the youth and environmental movements and civil-society organisations in general, for the present and future of Tunisia; and our determination to contribute actively to meeting the challenges it faces, politically and in terms of development, and to defend the gains of independence and of the building of the national State and the successes it has achieved for Tunisia along the path of development and modernity.
• Working with all the active and diverse forces, without exclusion or marginalisation, in the service of the country’s interest and in the unwavering defence of its fundamental civilisational, democratic and developmental foundations, which unite all its citizens, men and women; so as to consolidate the foremost strategic gain of our country, namely its national unity, and to work to put this national unity to positive use in supporting and protecting the climate of pluralism our country enjoys, and in establishing effective methods of managing differences and of running democratic institutions soundly, so that we achieve the interplay between development and democracy as fundamental mechanisms for the well-being of our people.
• Working to provide all the conditions for the independence of the judiciary as an authority in its own right, spreading fairness and achieving justice, rejecting violence, hatred and rancour; taking care to spread peace in the country and to broaden the fight against every kind of crime and attack on persons and property, and to spread a sense of security in every corner of the country, so that safety always remains a Tunisian hallmark that contributes to guaranteeing the rights of individuals and groups, to applying the laws and enforcing judicial decisions, to attracting investment, developing tourism and spreading civil peace.
• Holding fast to the republican system and to the civil State; constant care for the supremacy of the law and for respect for human rights, in method and in practice; and establishing the concept of citizenship as a fundamental pillar of democracy, which can only succeed and develop within society by providing the cultural, social, economic and environmental ground that combines freedom and development, the enjoyment of rights and the performance of duties.
• Developing the meaning of democracy so that it does not remain confined to the ballot box, important as that is, and so that it is not subverted and seized, as is the case today under the rule of despotic populism; and making democracy a comprehensive value founded on the concept of the citizen, on the values of citizenship, on the sense of belonging to the homeland and on being imbued with the values of life in common.
• A firm belief in the need to deepen comprehensive national reconciliation between the institutions of the State and citizens, between political forces and intellectual movements, and between the various regions and groups, in order to create the climate for a radical and comprehensive reform that makes it possible to identify political and development paths able to take root in our reality, far from projections and dictates and from the politics of alliances and axes; to protect our sovereign national decision; and to interact positively with our international surroundings, so as to fulfil our people’s hopes of progress and freedom.
• Working to deepen our Arab-Islamic belonging and our openness to human civilisations; always taking care to spread a culture of tolerance, moderation and the middle way; developing the creative spirit and investing in an advanced and purposeful cultural life; and ensuring the development of the country’s national cultural project as a ground for supporting human capacities and a mechanism for Tunisia’s radiance and its continued brilliance. A flourishing culture and free media are the two beacons of society and its two pillars for winning the battle of development in all its components.
• Deepening the sense that realising our hope for Tunisia first requires rooting the sense of our duties towards it, especially at this delicate stage; this requires, immediately and with strong will, the adoption of new political and development paths able to shape a new historical stage comparable in importance to the stages of independence, of the building of the national State and of the Revolution of Freedom and Dignity, aimed at opening up prospects for our young people so as to secure the country’s future and its destiny and to integrate all its regions into its course, through renewed development policies and diversified mechanisms, and by entrenching the participatory and inclusive method and the rewarding of merit in addressing its issues, so that every Tunisian, woman or man, wherever they are — at home or abroad, in the coastal or the interior regions, in the cities or the countryside — is an active producer of wealth, a participant in it and a beneficiary of its results.
• Centring the development model on the competence of Tunisia’s young human resources and working to develop them and to hone their talents and abilities within a modern system of education and training that helps meet the country’s needs for rich human capital. This model also ensures interaction between modern, efficient service sectors built on new technology and artificial intelligence, the basic productive industrial and agricultural activities in the coastal and interior cities of the country, the participatory contributions of the solidarity economy, and the new prospects of environmental professions and the green economy. This model also lays the foundations for a new generation of educated and ambitious young people who have drawn their knowledge from research and training centres and have become able to create new prospects for employment by developing economic initiative and conquering domestic and foreign markets.
• Working to make employment a central goal of development and a fundamental element in the choice of educational, training, economic and social policies. Economic growth is a fundamental condition for creating jobs for young people, but it is not a sufficient condition: it also requires reliance on the activities and sectors that employ more human resources, especially higher-education graduates; it requires a training policy able to restore due regard to trades and to technical specialisations with high added value for all young people, male and female, at every level; and an active, effective and transparent employment policy. A radical reform of the education and training systems, opening up prospects for young people, restoring due regard to trades and spreading a culture of work will without doubt make it possible to win the battle for employment and against unemployment and precarious work, by exploiting all the energies and opportunities available in the production systems, by pushing and encouraging workers to create new enterprises and diversify economic activities, and by opening up to sources of employment abroad, within cooperation policies that respect the country’s interest and open the way to the movement of human resources, goods and enterprises at the same time.
• Laying the foundations of an information society and a knowledge economy and spreading scientific culture, as a pillar for developing the digital economy so that it is adopted in every development sector as a locomotive for winning the battle of economic efficiency and of regional and international competition; for this reason we call for specific incentives in every field of production in order to develop techniques, introduce technologies and adopt artificial intelligence to modernise the economic structure in all agricultural, industrial and service activities.
• Working to support regional, provincial and local development areas and to provide innovative mechanisms for developing deconcentration and decentralisation, within an inclusive development policy that relies on harnessing every source of growth and the development of local services, and that establishes modern mechanisms enabling interaction between growth centres and sectors. Taking care to develop local authorities, to support municipal administration and to protect its independence, so as to guarantee the continuity of the affairs of the State with justice and transparency in serving the affairs of residents, whatever the parties and political forces represented on municipal councils.
• Adopting a proactive trade policy and an effective reform policy for the transport and logistics sector in general, in order to open markets to Tunisian goods, expertise and investment, and to establish mechanisms that encourage the conquest and diversification of these markets regionally and internationally; and recognising that the State, the professional organisations and the specialised bodies must make the promotion of Tunisian output a locomotive driving the development of the productive structure and of investment. In today’s world, production bodies and enterprises aspire to sell their products even before they produce them. Conquering markets, expanding trade areas and developing trade agreements with the various development areas around the world for Tunisian products is a fundamental locomotive of economic growth.
• Adopting a tax policy that drives development and investment, by broadening its base, simplifying its mechanisms, guaranteeing transparency in its application and developing its reliance on profit and wealth creation, so that it covers all producers of wealth and all those working in every sector, each according to the specific character of their activity. Taxation is an instrument of national and local development and a system for adjusting the distribution of wealth and for encouraging production and profit; it covers all economic actors and all citizens, of every category and every place of production, and cannot be conceived of as a punishment for producers or for economic actors engaged in the regulated system of production.
• Adopting a national energy strategy to support and ensure the success of the energy transition and of sustainable development in our country, in a way that brings significant economic, social and environmental benefits (in particular the reduction of carbon emissions), provides the conditions and guarantees of energy security for Tunisia and strengthens its energy sovereignty.
• Carrying out major initiatives to adapt to climate change and to take an active part in the international process in this field; and adopting an alternative-energy policy placed at the service of the new development model, concerning the two national projects for seawater desalination in the coastal regions and for the development of solar energy in the various interior regions, especially the south and the centre, in order to develop irrigated agriculture and support the agricultural regions, so that they become a pillar of agricultural development and of the food-processing industries.
• Laying the foundations of social justice between Tunisia’s groups and regions; supporting its health system — in research, prevention and treatment — in every region of the Republic; opening up prospects of advancement for its young people; and taking care to secure a dignified life for all the children of its people, within an active national solidarity that fights poverty and exclusion and protects the human person, as part of a comprehensive humanitarian, rights-based approach and of an ambitious orientation towards improving the quality of life of citizens.
• Protecting the gains of the Code of Personal Status and working to develop its provisions further, together with all other legislation, in keeping with the requirements of the age and of modernity, so as to achieve a fairer and fuller equality in rights and duties between men and women; and developing mechanisms of positive discrimination so as to enable women’s competences and abilities in every field to contribute actively to the country’s development, particularly in terms of equal rates of political participation, of economic activity, entrepreneurship and projects, of opportunities to run public affairs, and of a distinguished presence in public spaces.
• Adopting a renewed youth policy that ensures the full integration of this group within horizontal interaction and joint work between the various generations and competences, and that breaks with the vision of succession in its sectional sense; and taking care to support the sports sector in all its forms (individual sport, team sport, women’s sport, sport for people with special needs, indoor and outdoor) so that Tunisia regains its radiance and brilliance on the regional and international stage, and so that sport plays its leading role in raising generations in the values of effort, giving and dedication.
• Supporting people with special needs and lending a hand to all those whom life has not favoured, with the State assuming its responsibility through a national institution for social action, in order to establish policies of mutual aid and solidarity and to protect all vulnerable and needy groups, whatever the causes and factors, within an inclusive humanitarian approach. Taking care to support all the specialised structures and mechanisms for combating the social ills spreading in society, such as addiction, human trafficking, violence against women, sexual harassment and bullying, and to establish integrated policies for their prevention and treatment, so that Tunisian families are not left alone to face these ills.
• Within the programme of the national strategy to combat poverty: modernising the methods used to measure poverty and to set poverty lines, taking account of the rising cost of living, the repercussions of unstable international conditions and life’s many accidents; and, using the latest technical means, drawing up a list of poor and limited-income families, to be reviewed and updated automatically and continuously. The State guarantees these families, clearly, automatically and continuously, five fundamental rights: the right to food, to medical care, to education, to housing and to mobility. To verify the soundness of the files, and to help these families enjoy these rights and to accompany them in their effort to leave the circle of poverty, a new function will be created, the “social companions”, whose task is to support vulnerable groups within society and to ensure that they receive assistance and enjoy the necessary services. The social companion acts as an intermediary between the families under their responsibility and the public services and institutions of the State, and provides “rapid intervention” in urgent and difficult situations (such as illness, loss of employment, death…); the social companion also plays a role of guidance, advice and help with decision-making, so as to improve the family’s situation and achieve its independence.
• Working to adopt a culture, a policy and mechanisms able to enshrine transparency in all transactions, programmes and institutions, and to fight corruption of every kind at its roots; and spreading the principles of good governance and the culture of monitoring, oversight, evaluation and accountability, so that justice is the foundation of civilisation, and work and effort the foundation of success.
• Reorienting Tunisia’s foreign policy: by working for our country to regain its natural place in its regional and international surroundings, through strengthening the home front and pursuing a realistic and balanced foreign policy that draws on its historical and intellectual heritage of moderation, positive neutrality, fruitful mediation and the capacity for initiative, foresight and proposing solutions to the crises at hand; in order to defend national sovereignty, support the State’s development policies and strengthen the bridges of dialogue and partnership with brotherly and friendly countries on the basis of mutual respect and common interest, far from ideological and populist bickering and from tense, confrontational positions.

This reforming approach requires, before anything else, a broad diplomatic effort at the highest level to restore warmth and balance to Tunisia’s bilateral and multilateral relations, to repair what has been damaged in them, to restore the confidence of our friends and international partners in our country’s ability to rise again and meet all challenges, and to clear the air of every impurity, so as to ensure the return of dialogue and the recovery of the dynamics of cooperation, open broad prospects for investment and strengthen international partnerships in every field.

The entire system of international cooperation of the Tunisian State will also be reviewed, especially in the fields of investment, export, tourism and financial, technical and scientific cooperation, and a genuine economic diplomacy will be established, so as to make it able to meet the challenges and respond to the various national stakes; this requires above all the unification of the State’s efforts in line with a national vision that breaks with the sectoral policies that have characterised the work of Tunisian governments for decades, scattering efforts and draining human and material resources.

Given the great stakes of today, we are in the most urgent need of raising diplomatic action in terms of organisation, performance and means, so that it has the capacity to give concrete form to the orientations of foreign policy, founded on full fidelity to the components of Tunisia’s Arab-Islamic identity and to the requirements of its Maghreb, Arab, African and Mediterranean belongings, its historical and civilisational relations, and the weighty role it enjoys in its immediate surroundings.

Tunisia must also be reconciled with its African surroundings, and a genuine African policy must be established that recovers the capital of trust we enjoyed in the 1960s and 1970s, through exchanges of visits and friendships forged at the highest level, the resumption of political consultation and of economic, medical and technical cooperation, breaking the barrier of isolation by visiting the countries of sub-Saharan Africa after an absence of many years, and participating regularly in the African summits from which Tunisia has continually been absent.

The Tunisian State is also called upon today to support the efforts of the private sector and to accompany it in Africa, by widening its diplomatic presence, strengthening the means of our embassies on the continent, providing banking cover and insurance, providing air and sea transport and the like, and making the most, in particular, of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which opens promising prospects.

Note: Given its importance, we have decided to devote a separate, complementary document to the economic field, in which we set out our economic approach in depth and in detail (economic and financial policy, the development model, the budgetary framework, financial realism, the cost of the social measures, the financing strategy, strengthening the State’s resources and developing exceptional financing…)