Mohamed Naser, Head of Parliament and acting chairman of Nidaa Tunis Movement which leads the governmening coalition, stressed that he will not allow passing laws which open the door to the return of despotism.
Nesser said the parliament is planning to questions the government after 100 days of work, and he underlined that he will not hesitate to highlight its mistakes.
Mohamed Naser, Head of Parliament and acting chairman of Nidaa Tunis Movement which leads the governmening coalition, stressed that he will not allow passing laws which open the door to the return of despotism.
Nesser said the parliament is planning to questions the government after 100 days of work, and he underlined that he will not hesitate to highlight its mistakes.
Mohamed Naser, in the coming days, the parliament will discuss the draft law concerned with criminalizing any attack against policemen or soldiers, which politicians and law activists believe to be an introduction to reproduce the police state. What is your opinion on the subject?
The parliament committees are still discussing the law and the parliament members will hear all civil society parties including lawyers, experts and specialized people.
This law aims at protecting the police and army forces from any attacks. The parliament should issue a law to protect the armed forces from any threats, as they play a major role in protecting the country and its people. The law will also protect liberties and all rights provided in the Constitution. Personally, I will not pass laws which would allow for the return of the police state or contradict any of the acquired rights or liberties.
Although terrorism is threatening Tunisia, the parliament was unable to adopt the law of anti-terrorism and money laundering, which was drafted two years ago and was discussed by the National Constituent Assembly. Why has there been such a delay?
The anti-terrorism law represents a sensitive issue and is part of the public belief that it should be on top of the parliament’s priority list and this is also my opinion.
We recently held hearings which included all the parliament committees working on drafting this law. These hearings were useful for enriching the discussion and controlling the positions which will, at a later stage, facilitate discussing the law as soon as possible. Some committees have started indeed to discuss the draft and I think it will be adopted very soon. We will ensure that the law will include conditions of fair trials, in addition to preserving the rights of those involved in terrorism during the investigation and trial stages.
Many political factions leveled fierce criticism against the Tunisian parliament, claiming that it breached the Constitution by missing the deadlines of establishing the constitutional bodies provided for in the new Constitution.
The parliament is fully in compliance with the January 2014 Constitution. However, there are different interpretations of the dates of establishing the constitutional bodies. Some consider that the dates start from the date of holding the parliamentary elections in October/November 2014 and others believe that they start from the date of announcing the final results of the elections in November/December 2014. The difference in interpreting the Constitution made many political factions believe that the parliament is violating the Constitution. As head of the parliament, I am very keen on adhering to the Constitution, which is applied to all of the governmental institutions.
Some believe that the ruling coalition, which is composed of four political parties has managed to seclude the opposition in the parliament, which may impact the contents of the laws passed. Do you think the opposition’s role has dwindled?
The opposition in the parliament is very effective and can convince people of its principles and views and defend them. All are keen on securing the opposition’s effective performance and its participation in the laws’ final drafts.
On many occasions, it voted against the majority’s decision, which reflects the parliament’s diversity. This is healthy and ideal governance.
The current government led by Alhabib Alsayed faces widespread criticism due to its poor performance. How do you evaluate the government’s work?
The parliament’s responsibility, especially under a parliamentary regime, is to monitor the government’s work. We have invited the government to present the headlines of its work program and we will invite it again after 100 days to interrogate it. Up till now, we are satisfied with the government’s performance in general and I think it is doing quite well. However, we will never hesitate to highlight its mistakes.
Your parliament includes prominent political rivals such as the Leftist People’s Front, which accuses the Ennahda Movement of committing political assassinations in Tunisia. Does this political competition affect the parliament’s performance?
I believe that MPs from the People’s Front and Ennahda Movement discard their partisan differences in the parliament because the current stage is very difficult on the security, economic and social levels, which requires compromises and sacrifices from all factions.
In general, there is a spirit of coexistence and good relationships among all parties. We often manage to agree on controversial points and all parties reach compromises to ensure the progress of the files under discussion. Sometimes, even the ruling coalition parties have different views. However, all parties have the willingness to reach an agreement.
How did you experience the terrorist attack on Bardo Museum in your office, which looks out at the scene of the crime that claimed the lives of 21 tourists?
I was in my office getting ready to receive the Chinese ambassador. Suddenly I saw the security forces dashing in without permission and then the distressed special guards came in to protect the office. Immediately after that I heard gunshots and knew what was going on around the parliament.
When reinforcements came, I was on the phone speaking to the prime minister and the interior minister. We were under pressure. With the gun shots, I felt that some people were trying to attack the Tunisian history and culture, in addition to tarnishing its reputation through targeting the tourists who came to see Tunisia’s history demonstrated through the largest mosaic collection in the world.
After the security operation ended and the tourists were evacuated, the scene was heartbreaking. However, the parliament managed to overcome this calamity and held an exceptional session on the same day in which it called on staging an international march against terrorism in which many countries took part.
