After the agreements with Turkey and Morocco, from yesterday the European Union will also finance Tunisia to combat the arrival of migrants on its shores. The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, returned yesterday to Tunisia with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the still Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, for the signing of a memorandum of understanding “strategic” with the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, for which the EU will pay 105 million euros exclusively to fight traffickers.
The agreement also involves the sending of 150 million euros of European aid to support Tunisian budgets, according to Italian Government sources. In yesterday’s appearances, there was no mention of the other macro-financial aid package of 900 million euros evoked during the first visit of the self-styled “Team Europe” to Tunisia, which could be sent to the country in the form of loans the next years. Von der Leyen assured that Brussels is ready to deliver this assistance when the conditions are right, pending the resolution of the clash with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is demanding deep reforms from Saied and has also expressed concern about the country’s human rights situation to unlock a $1.9 billion loan.
“We need effective cooperation more than ever. The tragic shipwreck a few weeks ago in which many people lost their lives was another call to action. We need to fight the networks of traffickers who exploit human desperation and we need to overthrow their business model”, indicated the community president, in an appearance before journalists in which no questions were allowed.
Meloni, the most interested in the increase in migratory pressure in Italy due to departures from Tunisia – this weekend 1,400 migrants arrived in just 24 hours on the island of Lampedusa – stood up for the compromise reached and he set it up as a model for cooperation with other African countries.
“Team Europe” already traveled to Tunisia a month ago to offer this agreement of more than 1,000 million euros, but then they were faced with the coldness of Saied, who declared that he would not become the “guardian of the borders” of the EU. Faced with this rejection, Von der Leyen yesterday emphasized the multiple economic aspects of the memorandum, based on other pillars such as the “promotion of contact between people” or “cooperation on green energy”. The package includes the construction of the Medusa submarine cable, starting in 2025, to connect eleven European countries with Tunisia, which will cost 150 million euros, Von der Leyen said.
The signing comes a day after Saied again invoked the ethnic replacement conspiracy theory. In addition to the economic crisis, Tunisia is experiencing major clashes between the residents of Sfax, where most of the shepherds who leave the country for Italy depart, and sub-Saharan migrants. The president’s statements about “hordes of illegal immigrants” and a plan to blur the country’s “Arab-Muslim” character have set the area on fire. Humanitarian organizations have reported attacks, thefts or the expulsion of hundreds of people in border desert areas.
