Saeed's visit to France, he missed the "apology" and attended the "Libyan temporary legitimacy"

The first official visit by Tunisian President Qais Saeid to France has left an internal political debate in relation to the files presented and silenced by him with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, foremost of which is the Libyan crisis and the future of joint relations, and the issue of the "French apology" for the colonial era.

During a joint press conference, the two presidents spoke extensively of the "eternal friendship" that binds the two peoples, and Macron also hailed the success of the Tunisian experience in resisting the Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19), announcing that his country offered a loan of 350 million euros to support the development sectors in Tunisia.

Contrary to some expectations, the issue of "French apology" was absent from the talks, after it occupied local public opinion following the fall of a draft parliamentary list submitted by the "Dignity Coalition" bloc demanding the French state to apologize for the crimes committed during the colonial era.

Abd al-Latif al-Alwi, the deputy from the "Dignity Coalition," described the president's silence on the issue of the apology, in front of his French counterpart, as "shameful and shameful."

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Alawi criticized the president’s export of his personal differences with parliament abroad, when he addressed Macron by saying that “the fate of Tunisia and France is shared and those who want to go back will not succeed and they will not progress,” noting that the purpose of the visit is to “apologize for the list of apologies.”

Parliamentarians have previously demanded that the president remedy what they described as the "scandal" of the fall of the list of apologies in parliament, which was overwhelmed by political calculations, as the representative of the Democratic Movement, Samia, called on the president to save the Tunisian position and the dignity of Tunisians during his meeting with representatives of the French state.

In the context, media and academic Muhammad Al-Fihri Shalabi saw that the president slapped the parliament when he discharged those who offered the French apology list in his speech.

Shalaby pointed out - in a post on his official Facebook page - that Saeed opened up horizons, welcoming new ideas with his French counterpart, to fold the page of the recent and near past.

Temporary legitimacy
On the other hand, the Libyan file was the most prominent present during the joint press conference between the Tunisian and French President, during which Saeed was keen to speak in Arabic, which sparked a wave of admiration and appreciation among the political and popular circles in Tunisia.

Observers saw that the French President, who did not hesitate to attack the Turkish intervention in Libya, failed to extract a similar position from the Tunisian President, as Saeed stressed in his speech that the solution in Libya should be "Libyan Libyan" again, Tunisia refusing to divide the neighboring country.

Saeed considered that "the existing authority in Libya is based on international legitimacy," but he added, in return, that "this legitimacy cannot continue because it is a temporary legitimacy and must be replaced by a new legitimacy that stems from the will of the Libyan people."

May God rest the soul of President Beji Kayed Essebsi.

- Khaled Al-Mashri (@KhaledMeshri) June 23, 2020

Saeed mentioned the initiative he personally led by gathering more than 35 Libyan tribal leaders in Carthage Palace, and called on them to develop a constitution similar to the Afghan constitution that would be a "transitional station" decided by the Libyans, without the interference of an external party.

The president's talk about legitimacy and legitimacy in Libya was considered by political activist Bashir Al-Nafzi a kind of prevarication in which Saeed tried to lift himself embarrassed in front of his French counterpart, by avoiding giving a position that identifies with the French president.

Al-Nafzi indicated in his post that this method, adopted by Saeed, will not be feasible at the Arab League meeting to be held during the coming days to discuss the Egyptian initiative, as Tunisia will formally demand that its position be clarified without prevarication or impartiality.

Al-Nahda leader, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafik Abdel Salam, believes that Saeed did not succeed in describing the legitimacy of the interim government, stressing in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the president's position did not accurately express the official position and the interests of Tunisia.

Abdel Salam acknowledged Tunisia's position in support of the legitimacy in Libya represented by the Al-Sarraj government, "which came as a result of a political consensus and represented Libya in the United Nations, the Arab League and various international organizations and platforms."

The former foreign minister criticized the initiative presented by Saeed to solve the Libyan crisis, stressing that the tribal situation is not the determinant of the crisis, and that the Afghan experience over the Libyans is not right.

On the other hand, he called for supporting the central government in Tripoli, while calling for the abandonment of the military solution, and for the legitimate government to extend its influence over the entire Libyan soil.

On the other hand, the former minister, Hatem Al-Ashi, praised Saeed's speech during the joint press conference with his French counterpart, by saying in his post that the president "excelled in the way of answering without sophistry or populism."

He pointed out that Saeed's description of the Al-Wefaq government as an implicit message was his refusal to Turkish intervention in Libya, and that his position represents the general position of all Tunisians, as he put it.

In a related context, Adnan Monser, head of the Center for Strategic Studies on the Maghreb, said that Tunisia missed a historic opportunity to seize the initiative in a relationship with the Libyan file with its neighbors in Algeria and Morocco, criticizing the lackluster presence of Tunisia in the membership of the Security Council.

Munassir criticized the absence of the strategic vision and correct understanding of the Libyan issue, in relation to Tunisian foreign policy, stressing that Tunisia's neutrality has become unacceptable.

It is noteworthy that a meeting yesterday between Defense Minister Imad Al-Hizqi and the commander of the American Military Command in Africa (AFRICOM) in the presence of the Washington ambassadors in Tunisia and Libya, during which Al-Hizqi emphasized the principles of the Tunisian position based on supporting legitimacy in Libya and the necessity of a political settlement.