As long as political stability is not guaranteed, Tunisia will not be able to get out of the crisis, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said in January.

Speaking during a plenary session of the parliament for a vote of confidence in the new ministers proposed in the latest reshuffle, Mechichi said that “the state suffers from a structural crisis that has grown in recent years by hindering the will for a real responsible reform and opening the way to a populist discourse”, the Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that the objective of this cabinet reshuffle, which includes 11 ministerial posts, “is to have more efficiency in the performance of the government.”

“The political scene has been marked, for 10 years, by political escalation which helped to widen the gap between the governing elite and the Tunisians and give them a feeling of marginalization and neglect with regard to their expectations and demands,” Mechichi said.

It is therefore necessary to listen to young people who have expressed their discontent with real sincerity, and work to find sustainable solutions to their problems, he added. The sluggish economy, surging Covid-19 infections and strict curfews to fight the pandemic have triggered off recent protests in Tunisia.

On January 16, Mechichi announced a cabinet reshuffle, the first since his government passed the vote of confidence in the Parliament on September 2, 2020.