JERBA | François Legault still plans to meet Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed, a gesture of courtesy that Justin Trudeau refuses to offer to the controversial leader of the host country of the 18th edition of the Francophonie Summit.
• Read also: Legault praises his law 96 in front of the Francophonie
• Read also: Francophonie: summit meeting in Tunisia for François Legault and Justin Trudeau
Like the thirty heads of state and government present, Justin Trudeau and François Legault were welcomed Saturday morning at the casino on the island of Djerba, where the summit is taking place, by President Saïed and the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), Louise Mushikiwabo.
For Justin Trudeau, it will probably be his only handshake with the Tunisian president. He “will not have a bilateral meeting with him,” confirmed the Canadian Prime Minister’s office.
According to our information, with less than a month of legislative elections in Tunisia, Mr. Trudeau fears to “legitimize” the regime of President Saïed if he agrees to meet him in a more formal way, beyond the events and plenaries to which all the leaders of the Francophonie participate.
“Me, I am comfortable”, maintains for his part François Legault, who, failing to have been able to meet Mr. Saïed as planned, on Saturday, plans to resume on Sunday, before the end of the summit.
“I am going to tell the Tunisian president my concern following the fact that he has appropriated certain powers as president, powers that normally belong to a prime minister,” assured the premier of Quebec, who is not afraid of being instrumentalized.
“I think I’m able to be pretty clear usually with what I think and I’ll tell him that democracy is important to me,” he added.
Saïed welcomes
In front of the journalists and photographers who attended the beginning of his meeting with Mr. Legault, Mr. Trudeau also insisted on the importance of promoting the democratic values shared by Quebec and Canada.
The actions of President Saïed, which have exacerbated political tensions in Tunisia, have also prompted Ottawa to maneuver behind the scenes to try to cancel, but without success, the holding of this summit in the land of Jasmine.
President Saïed alluded to it in his speech delivered at the opening of the summit. “As everyone knows, there was talk at difficult times, for multiple reasons, of organizing this summit remotely by videoconference, or even for some of them canceling it to organize it elsewhere, but our unwavering will with the support of our friends ended up winning, he said. Here we are today [samedi] reunited. »