The Tunisian head of government is asking Parliament for exceptional funds for exceptional challenges and expresses his wish to create a democratic, not theocratic, state.

Interview: Hamadi Jebali, a guarantor of Tunisian democracy?

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16090642/n003-0204-en_mf.srt

Hamadi Jebali, hello. You're the head  of the Tunisian government.

Welcome to Brussels.  It's your second visit, isn't it?

You met Council President  Herman Van Rompuy

and MEPs who are asking  for guarantees...

Let me quote: 'Assurances  from the Tunisian authorities

that the country's democratic  transformation is irreversible.'

If the question is asked, people must  have doubts. Do you understand that?

I haven't seen doubts. I haven't felt  people are asking for guarantees.

But let's say there are fears  that are justified for our friends.

Fears not only for Europe,  but for Tunisia itself.

So I'll correct you.  No one has asked me for guarantees.

that the government  should act with firmness. That's true.

We've asked for that ourselves.  Our people asked for it.

But you can be sure that we intend to,  and we've done so.

We are acting with firmness  against any violation of the law

and especially the use of violence  against other people.

So we haven't just been asked for  a guarantee, but for cooperation.

people have talked a lot  about democracy here.

On 23 October 2011,  Tunisians went to the polls.

It's now almost a year later.  There's still no constitution,

although at the time  one was promised sooner than this.

You've spoken about human rights,  women's rights. What can we expect?

Writing a constitution in one year  is very nice and desirable,

It's not the fault of one party or another.

I think we must act together  in such a way that we move more quickly.

The main thing is that we must agree  and have a national consensus

to put a schedule in place together  and consensus between the parties.

I hope that we're moving into second gear  to finish our work

and the call goes out to the Constituent  Assembly, not the government.

and has the opportunity of creating  a dynamic between the stakeholders.

It's hard to create a dynamic when  one sees a lot of violence in Tunisia.

In May, you said,  and these are your words...

You attributed the recent violence  to the Salafists.

'You spread a false message  about Islam which scares people

and the Tunisians have had enough.  We will act by force of the law.'

Today the situation is similar. We saw  what happened on 14 September.

That was when things erupted across  the region after the American film,

Yes, it's still there.  First we have to put this in context.

Tunisia isn't in a cycle  of continuous violence.

But we are still going to have to act  with firmness

But we have acted and are acting  with firmness against all violence.

Can you put a figure on that solidarity,

given that the south of Tunisia has today  announced unemployment of over 50%?

What do you expect  from the European Union?

We always look for support  from our friends, our allies,

that is stronger, more direct  and also quicker,

because 2013 will be a difficult year,  a pivotal year,

which now has real deadlines,  to write the constitution, hold elections,

and above all solve the urgent social  and economic problems,

Let's quickly talk about the Arab Spring  that started in Tunisia.

We now have a catastrophic situation  in Syria.

What would you say to Mr Bashar  al-Assad about his next steps?

He should resign and leave  as soon as possible,

because everyone knows  the final outcome.

There is no place for dictatorship  any more.