Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

The audit committee would be made up of MPs (mainly from the opposition), representatives of administrative jurisdictions, of the High committee for administrative and financial control, of the National anti-corruption authority, representatives of the civil society, as well as of foreign personalities independent from the creditors and known for their expertise regarding the audit of the public debt. The audit’s goals would be to determine the causes of the public borrowing and the effects produced by the conditionalities attached to the loan agreements on the rights and living conditions of the Tunisian people, in order to express the arguments concerning the cancellation of the public debts that will be identified as odious, illegal, illegitimate or unsustainable. An audit of the Tunisian public debt would also promote transparency and responsibility regarding the management of public funds, so as to make sure that future loans are contracted in the interest Interest An amount paid in remuneration of an investment or received by a lender. Interest is calculated on the amount of the capital invested or borrowed, the duration of the operation and the rate that has been set. of the population, following a democratic process.

This bill is salutary for the Tunisian people, whose social demands have never been satisfied since they were expressed during the revolution of December 2010 – January 2011. Indeed, servicing the Tunisian public debt represents the highest expenses of the state budget by far, therefore mobilising financial resources that cannot be spent in essential fields such as health, education or social services. In order to pay off its debt, Tunisia is forced to contract new loans that raise its level of public debt and make it unsustainable. The IMF IMF
International Monetary Fund Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.

When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.

As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).

The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.

http://imf.org , which plays a huge role in this downward spiral of borrowing, recently concluded a loan agreement with the country for a total amount of 2.8 billion dollars, coupled with a new set of drastic measures regarding neoliberal restructuration and austerity that will be implemented until 2020. It is worth noticing that an important part of the Tunisian public debt was accumulated without any kind of democratic control under Ben Ali’s authoritarian regime and was used mostly as a means of enrichment for the dictator’s clan. Indeed, the debt contracted by the former regime has been recognized as being an odious one by the Belgian Senate and the European Parliament – yet they did not make any decision regarding the cancellation of the European credits.

The Committee for the abolition of illegitimate debts (CADTM) supports this bill aiming at setting up an audit of the Tunisian public debt and recognises the work done by RAID (member association of the CADTM and ATTAC networks) and progressive political forces (particularly those gathered within the Popular front) towards this goal. The Tunisian debt is a genuine tool for neo-colonial domination and it represents a rope tightened around the neck of the people of the country. The cancellation of its odious, illegal, illegitimate and unsustainable parts should enable to redirect the use of public funds towards expenses aiming at giving better living conditions to the Tunisian people. The payment of European claims on Tunisia must be suspended as soon as possible and until the audit commission reaches its conclusions. The CADTM publicly announces its readiness to share Share A unit of ownership interest in a corporation or financial asset, representing one part of the total capital stock. Its owner (a shareholder) is entitled to receive an equal distribution of any profits distributed (a dividend) and to attend shareholder meetings. its international expertise and to participate to any action that could help this initiative succeed. The CADTM will actively publicise this initiative on the international scene and in other countries of the region, such as Egypt, Morocco or Jordan.