Marie-Christine Vergiat, GUE/NGL Coordinator on the Subcommittee on Human Rights and member of the Maghreb in the European Parliament has spoken yesterday in the Plenary Session on the Tunisian regime unrestrained behavior and attacks against the human rights defenders.

"Indeed, not many of us in this chamber have denounced the excesses of the Tunisian regime and what it was doing to everyone and anyone who dared to criticize and denounce its practices. It took a young 26 year old man to set himself on fire for the Tunisian people to rise up, for the people of Tunisia not to feel alone in their struggles anymore. But it took more than 50 deaths for the EU to venture a timid statement in which it called for restraint in the use of force without jeopardizing the sacrosanct EU-Tunisia partnership.”, the MEP declared.

According to M. C. Vergiat, European authorities know how to be more vocal with other regimes. She remembered that also in France only on Saturday, the government condemned the violence, but “thanks to the courage of the Tunisian people, in a few days the "Tunisian miracle" so dear to some people here, collapsed and showed its true face. Now, our responsibility to follow the Tunisian people without interference in their democratic transition is great. The European Union must follow the electoral process, and ensure the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened (the violence and corruption).”

The Coordinator on the Subcommittee on Human Rights considered that in Tunisia, the EU has failed. “A long road must now be travelled so that Tunisians regain trust. Today things are still difficult but new hope has emerged in Tunisia. We know that identical uprisings can take place in all countries where the "West" places its own interests before those of the people. Some have already set themselves on fire in Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania. It is time to move from rhetoric to action on democracy and human rights.It is time to rebuild the EU's partnerships with the countries of the south and rebuild them on the basis of democracy, respect for human rights and equality”, she has defended.