The increase in migrant crossings in the central Mediterranean has brought relations between Tunis and Brussels back to the fore. Less than a month after making the proposal, the President of the European Commission, the Italian heads of government Giorgia Meloni and the Dutch Mark Rutte met, on Sunday July 16, in Tunis with the Head of State Kaïs Saïed to finalize a “strategic partnership” focused on the fight against irregular immigration, but also intended to support the North African country in the face of serious economic difficulties.
Ursula von der Leyen welcomed an agreement that will “invest in shared prosperity”, referring to “five pillars”, including the very important migration issue. Tunisia is the main point of departure with Libya for thousands of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Europe.
The five pillars are “macroeconomic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, bringing people together, migration and mobility,” the Commission said in a statement.
The memorandum of understanding marks “a new important step to deal with the migration crisis in an integrated way”, welcomed Ms. Meloni, who invited Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed to participate next Sunday in Rome in a summit on migration.
According to Ms. Meloni, the partnership between Tunisia and the European Union (EU) “can be seen as a model for the establishment of new relations with North Africa”. In the sights of the Commission, Morocco or Egypt.
For Mark Rutte, the agreement will “better control irregular immigration”. A hot topic in Tunisia, where, following clashes that claimed the life of a Tunisian on July 3, hundreds of African migrants were driven out of Sfax, Tunisia’s second city and main point of departure for illegal emigration towards Europe. They were taken by the Tunisian police according to NGOs, and left to their fate in inhospitable areas near Libya to the east and Algeria to the west.
President Saïed raised this issue in front of his counterparts, calling for “a collective agreement on inhuman immigration and on (forced) displacement operations by criminal networks”. “Tunisians have given these immigrants everything that can be offered with unlimited generosity,” said Saïed, who was heavily criticized for the way hundreds of migrants were arrested in Tunisia and then “deported”, according to NGOs. , to inhospitable areas on the borders with Algeria and Libya.
Telephone testimonies to AFP and videos sent to NGOs in Tunisia showed women and children abandoned in the middle of the desert without water, food or shelter. Libyan border guards told AFP on Sunday that they had rescued at least 70 migrants who were wandering in unbearable temperatures and without any help in a border area between the two countries.
An increasingly openly xenophobic discourse has spread in Tunisia since Mr. Saïed, who assumed full powers in July 2021, denounced illegal immigration in February, referring to “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” who came , in his view, to “change the demographic composition” of the country.
Concretely, the agreement between Brussels and Tunis provides aid of 105 million euros to fight against irregular immigration. The EU has also pledged direct budget support of €150 million in 2023 as Tunisia, strangled by a debt of 80% of its GDP, runs out of cash, causing regular shortages of health products. basic necessities purchased directly by the State.
During its first visit, the European troika had mentioned a “macro-financial assistance of 900 million euros”, in the form of a loan which would have been provided to Tunisia over the next few years. Ms von der Leyen said on Sunday that Brussels remained “ready to provide this assistance as soon as the conditions are met”. But this “assistance” is conditional on an agreement between Tunisia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new credit of 2 billion dollars, a file in the impasse for months.
President Saïed rejects two essential conditions for an agreement with the IMF: the lifting of subsidies on basic products and the restructuring of state companies in difficulty. We must “find new ways of cooperation outside the international monetary framework”, he said on Sunday.
