772.00/2–1351: Despatch
The Consul General at Tunis (Jernegan) to the Department of State 1
No. 286
Subject: At Last, the Reforms
On February 8, the Bey of Tunis affixed his seal to the new reforms agreed upon by the Resident General and the Tunisian Cabinet of Ministers, thus ending a six month period of rumors concerning the resignation of the entire cabinet of ministers, threats by the Neo Destour Party to withdraw from the Government, a “political pause” by the Resident General, a “counter pause” by the Ministers, protests by the Rassemblement Frangais, and accusations of inactivity by both French and Tunisian authorities. A translation of the official communiqué announcing the approval by the Bey of the reforms is forwarded as enclosure 1 to this despatch.2
Reforms
The official texts of the reforms appeared as decrees in the Journal Offlciel Tunisien for February 9.3 The complete French texts of these decrees as well as their English translations will be forwarded in a separate despatch.
The reforms may be summarized as follows:
- (1)
- Cabinet of the Sovereign: A Cabinet of the Sovereign is instituted to examine everything relating to the Palace and to maintain close liaison with the Prime Minister in matters concerning protocol and the ceremony of the court. The Cabinet is composed of a Director and his assistants, as well as an interpreter, a clerk, and a stenographer.
- (2)
- Council of Ministers: The Council of Ministers “defines the orientation and directs the general action of the Government” and is the meeting ground for ministers, directors, and the commissioner (of Reconstruction and Housing). The Council of Ministers is presided over by the Prime Minister and has as its members the Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of State, the Minister of Social Affairs, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Minister of Public Health, the Minister of Agriculture, the Director of Finance, the Director of Public Works, [Page 1398] the Director of Education, the Director of the Post Office, and the Commissioner of Reconstruction. The decree establishing the Council of Cabinet is abrogated.
- (3)
- Creation of High Committee for Critical Situations: Under exceptional circumstances the Resident General and the Tunisian Government shall convene in a High Committee to determine measures justified by the critical situation. The High Committee shall be convoked by the Resident General, who will preside at meetings.
- (4)
- Budgetary Matters: Disagreements relating to the budget are submitted to a Superior Budgetary Committee presided over by the Resident General and having as its other members the Prime Minister, the President of each of the two Sections of the Grand Council, and the President and Recorder of the Commission of Finance of each of the two Sections. A simple majority carries a motion, with the Resident General having the deciding vote in the event of a deadlock.
- (5)
- General Administration of Tunisia: The general administration is controlled, under the authority of the Prime Minister, by: (a) a central Administration (having substantially the same membership as the Council of Ministers but without the Secretary General and the Assistant Secretary General), and (b) a corps of caids to whom the powers of the sovereign have been delegated.
- (6)
- Functions of Prime Minister: The Prime Minister prepares acts and decrees for the seal of the Bey, presides over the Council of Ministers, and coordinates the actions of the ministers, the directors, and the commissioner. The Prime Minister also has responsibility for matters concerning: Court protocol and the interests of the Beylical family, submission of decrees for the Bey’s seal, the direction and control of the activities of the Bey’s agents (caids, kahias, khalifats, and sheikhs), preservation of the state archives.
- (7)
- Functions of Secretary General: The Secretary General is named by the Bey on the presentation of the Resident General. He assures, with the Prime Minister, the centralization of civil and administrative matters including the decrees and arretes to be sealed, general inspection of administrative services, control of personnel and public expenses of the civil administrations, the administration of the Tunisian Statistical Service, and the elaboration and execution of the economic plan after it has received the approval of the Council of Ministers.
- (8)
- Ministries, Directorates, and the Commission: The ministers, directors, and the commissioner who are members of the Council of Ministers are named by decree. Each minister, director, or commissioner names, by arrete, the personnel recruited by his administration and controls the expenses of his services according to provisions laid down in regulations concerning public accounting.
- (9)
- General Conditions: Unless special legislative provisions are made, every member of the Council of Ministers has the authority to issue arretes within the scope of his functions. These arretes are submitted through the Secretary General to the Resident General who approves them or, if necessary, returns them, with his observations, for further drafting. The arretes are then published in the Journal Officiel Tunisien and thus become law.
- (10)
- Participation in Government (“Fonction Publique”): Government positions are divided into four categories based on the following salary indices:
| Category A: | index | 225–800 |
| Category B: | index | 185–360 |
| Category C: | index | 130–250 |
| Category D: | index | 100–195 |
When new employees are recruited, 50% of the positions in Categories A and B will be filled by Tunisians and 50% by Frenchmen; two-thirds of the positions in Category C will be filled by Tunisians and one-third by Frenchmen; three quarters of the positions in Category D will be filled by Tunisians and one quarter by Frenchmen. Everyone filling positions in Categories C and D must pass an examination in the Arabic language or must be able to hold a conversation in Arabic.
Speech of Resident General
On his return to Tunis from Paris, the Resident General spoke over the radio on the night of February 9.
The signing of the new agreements, the Resident General stated, gave a new impetus to Franco-Tunisian cooperation. The reforms represent the fulfillment of a promise. If they satisfy the demands of the Tunisians, he continued, they at the same time guarantee French interests. Who, the Resident General asked, can doubt that Tunisia has need of the presence of France? The spirit of mutual comprehension which marked the negotiations must continue if the reforms are to be successfully applied. The Tunisians, he said, must demonstrate increasingly greater aptitude commensurate with their greater responsibilities in governing themselves. He called for continued peace and order. “To work!” he concluded, “To work in mutual understanding!”
A translation of the complete text of the Resident General’s speech is forwarded as enclosure 2 to this despatch.4
Nationalist Press Reaction
The reaction of the nationalist press, with the exception of Irada and Independance of the Old Destour, has been favorable although guardedly optimistic.
An Nahda for February 9 receives the news of the reforms enthusiastically, thanking God that the obstructionists of the Rassemblement were over-ruled. Now let the French members of the Grand Council resign, An Nahda suggests, thus making the application of future reforms more easy. The paper congratulates the Bey, the Resident General, and the Prime Minister for their part in the negotiations which led to the reforms.
Az Zohra draws a comparison between the British and French attitudes toward their colonies. England gave India its complete independence [Page 1400] without fanfare, while France accords Tunisia minor reforms amid much shouting and protests from the Rassemblement opposition.
The newly-founded As-Sabah, said to be the mouthpiece of Salah Ben Youssef, commented that it was a long period of labor, the reforms, though imperfect, were finally born, and the mother (Tunisian Cabinet) miraculously survived the ordeal.
The Neo Destour organ Mission admits that although the reforms are insufficient, they are a step in the right direction. Mission reserves its judgment until the reforms are applied and until the Government indicates its willingness to proceed with further reforms which will lead to internal autonomy. Mission deplores the fact that in spite of the reforms the Government has not yet recognized the Neo Destour Party nor has it lifted the state of siege in Tunisia.
Other Nationalist Reaction
Habib Bourguiba, now attending the Moslem Congress in Karachi, is reported by the press to have stated that the reforms constitute a very timid but significant step. The Neo Destour, he explained, accepts these reforms as a promise of other reforms to come. The second stage must consist in replacing the French directors by Tunisian ministers. A Tunisian Ministry of the Interior must be established, Bourguiba continued, to control the services of the police and security. Finally, he stated, a strictly Tunisian National Assembly must be constituted whose members are to be elected by universal suffrage, the French interest to be represented by the Resident General. In conclusion he hoped that the second stage of reforms would be reached before the Bey’s trip to Paris next spring so the visit could take place in a spirit of mutual comprehension and understanding.
Nouri Boudali, Assistant Secretary General of the UGTT, expressed guarded optimism on the reforms (reference Tunis confidential despatch No. 285 of February 13, 19515). The reforms were inadequate, he stated, but they did represent progress and therefore were accepted by the Neo Destour. Had the Neo Destour refused the reforms, Boudali stated, the Cabinet would have resigned and the political situation would have deteriorated rapidly. Such an eventuality seemed a probability ten days ago, he said, but fortunately the crisis has now passed.
Mourad Cherif, close to nationalist circles, stated that the reaction of the nationalists to the reforms was one of general disappointment. He asserted that the reforms changed little: although the Prime Minister would preside over the Council of Ministers, matters relating to the budget had been removed from the Council’s jurisdiction (this is not strictly true); the participation of Tunisians in the Government according to the specifications laid down under Fonction Publique [Page 1401] would not be implemented for twenty years unless steps were taken to oust French officials now in the Government.
Old Bestow Reaction
The weekly French-language Old Destour organ Independance, commenting on the reforms, stated that Colonna could cry “Fire!” till he was blue in the face, Karila could go to the Wailing Wall, and the bells could ring out in Paris, Cairo, and Tunis—but actually the reforms changed nothing. The results of the difficult and laborious negotiations, Independance concludes, are nothing but air: the mountain (which the Neo Destour had previously referred to as bringing forth a mouse) was not even pregnant!
French Rassemblement Reaction
The delegation of the French Section of the Grand Council, headed by Marcel Casabianca, returned from Paris on February 11, disillusioned and irritated that it had not been informed of the exact status of the reforms at the time they were being approved by the Council of Ministers in Paris. Before leaving Paris Casabianca stated: “The French colony of the Regency is wounded but not defeated. It remains on the alert and in the battle.”
Jean Casanova of the Rassemblement Frangais said that the reforms marked the passing of French control in Tunisia, that they were humiliating for the French, and that they were contrary to the letter and spirit of the treaties. “For the French of this Country”, he remarked, “the reforms constitute an unhappy ending of a policy of abandonment and renunciation.”
The reaction of Secretary General Jacques Vimont to the reforms was submission of his resignation. Unsubstantiated reports indicate that he will shortly be transferred to the French Embassy at Rio de Janeiro, to be replaced by a “high functionary” from Paris.
Communist Reaction
Communist reaction to the reforms, which are referred to as a “patching up” of the Protectorate regime, has been reported in Tunis restricted despatch 282 of February 12.6
Conclusions
There has been a general feeling of relief and an easing in the political atmosphere following the acceptance of the reforms. French and Tunisian Government officials, who were a few days ago regarding each other suspiciously, are temporarily enjoying a period of mutual admiration. Mr. Schuman himself paid tribute to the “comprehension” of the Tunisian ministers. Three days after the seal had been affixed to the reforms the Bey bestowed his highest decoration, the Ahed el Amane, on the Resident General. Rumblings of discontent at the inadequacy of the reforms are in the background but for the moment are drowned out by the sighs of relief that a crisis has been safely averted.
[Page 1402]The position of the Tunisian Cabinet is strengthened and rumors concerning its resignation should now subside.
Perhaps the one man who deserves more credit than any other person in putting over the reforms is the Resident General himself. Apparently deserted by the Secretary General when he most needed his support, attacked continously by the Rassemblement Français, and not being able to rely on his own cabinet for wise counsel, Mr. Perillier carried through on his own initiative. But after the difficult preliminary bickerings in Tunis, Perillier received help where he most needed it, the support of the French Foreign Minister in Paris.