Deputy Yasser Gourari, president of the General Legislation Commission at the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), returned, Friday, December 26, 2025, to the next parliamentary deadlines following the closure of the budgetary debate, by outlining the main orientations which should structure the legislative agenda during the coming period.
Speaking in the Expresso program broadcast on Express FM, the MP spoke at length about the recent official mission carried out in The Hague, which was part of an institutional approach aimed at deepening knowledge of the main courts and international organizations based in this city, namely the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration, as well as the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).
He recalled that the members of the General Legislation Commission had notably carried out a working visit to the International Criminal Court, during which they attended an exhaustive presentation on the jurisdictional mandate of the ICC, its institutional architecture, its procedural mechanisms and its central role in the promotion of international criminal justice.
On this occasion, Yasser Gourari returned to the decision rendered by the ICC Appeals Chamber, which rejected the appeal filed by the Israeli authorities contesting the arrest warrants issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He also underlined the rejection, by the majority of appeal judges, of the appeal aimed at suspending the investigation carried out by the Court into the conduct of military operations in the Gaza Strip, specifying that the investigation remains ongoing and that the arrest warrants remain legally valid and enforceable.
In the same context, the President of the Commission indicated that this mission had also made it possible to initiate an in-depth reflection on the means to reactivate the role of Tunisia, on standby since 2017, and to relaunch the cooperation mechanisms with the Hague Conference on Private International Law, in several areas relating to international law and judicial cooperation. He recalled, in this regard, that Tunisia has been a member of the HCCH since 2014, but that its effective involvement today requires new institutional impetus.
Yasser Gourari also announced that a detailed report retracing the conclusions and recommendations resulting from this visit had been submitted, Thursday, to the various competent parliamentary committees, with a view to its examination before its transmission to the executive, the only one authorized to conduct diplomatic relations and international cooperation. He also revealed that an HCCH conference should be held in April 2026 at the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences in Tunis, with the participation of deputies and experts, with a view to raising awareness and strengthening institutional capacities. The possible opening of an HCCH office in Tunisia remains, according to him, an option under study.
Addressing another aspect of this mission, the MP also returned to the meetings organized with Tunisian nationals established in the Netherlands, estimated at nearly 25,000 people. The latter particularly pleaded for the opening of a direct air link between Tunis and Amsterdam, which they consider to be an essential lever to consolidate their economic, social and cultural roots with their country of origin.
Yasser Gourari underlined, at the end of his speech, that the new configuration of the commissions and the ARP office would be called upon to define short and medium term priorities. However, he insisted on the need, for the remainder of the parliamentary mandate, to focus on strategic economic priorities, part of a sovereign national approach, while continuing social and institutional construction efforts, an essential condition for the country’s lasting political and security stability.
NJ
