Monday, 10 June 2013

Morocco: Opposition boycotts PM's monthly question time


 
On 31 May, Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane addressed a largely empty Lower House of Parliament during his monthly question-time. The main opposition parties – the RNI, PAM, USFP and the UC – had decided to boycott the session in protest against the way in which it has been managed. In essence, the opposition feels that it has insufficient time to raise issues of importance.

During the May question-time, Benkirane was his usual paternalist self, attempting to soften the blow represented by cutbacks in the investment budget by saying that these were “sad measures, but in the interest of the people”; he added a few words addressing the “the poor of the cities and countryside” saying that “our heart is with you”. However, reforms in the subsidy system, retirement pensions, the tax system and justice will go forward, he stressed.

Benkirane compared managing a country to being in the same situation as a “family head building a house: delaying construction works does not mean stopping them. If things are not done this year, they will be next year”.

For more news and expert analysis about Morocco, please see Morocco Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

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