A few hours before a meeting on migration with European Commission, Italian and Dutch heads, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has said his country will not be Europe’s border guard.
Today, June 11, Ursula von der Leyen, Giorgia Meloni and Mark Rutte are visiting Tunisia with the aim of offering financial assistance, including a pledge to try to unblock an International Monetary Fund rescue package – that is, for illegal migrations.
Von der Leyen said the European Commission is considering providing Tunisia with an aid package of up to €900 million ($970 million). If a „necessary agreement” can be found, she added, the aid would be delivered as part of a five-point program that includes tougher action against illegal migration, reports DW.
Italy proposes a partnership deal with Tunisia that would allow Rome to deport migrants who do not qualify for asylum to Tunisia, which has become something of a migrant hub.
„The solution will not be at the expense of Tunisia … we cannot be a guard for their countries”, Saied stated during a visit to the port of Sfax, the main departure point for migrants seeking to reach Italy by boat.
Italy, Greece and other Mediterranean and central European countries, including Hungary and Austria, fear a major increase in migration numbers this summer with radical reforms to laws not likely to be passed by the European parliament until later this year. Italy’s Meloni major from EU interior ministers on Thursday in a new migration and asylum pact that will allow returns to transition countries even if the individual in question had only been there for days or weeks
Under a million irregular migrants made it to Europe last year, of whom about 120,000 were deemed ineligible for asylum. Now interior ministers have agreed to Italy’s demands to water down a proposed rule that would have obliged EU member states to prove a substantial connection such as family or a five-year work history before a deportation could be sanctioned.
In turn, Mediterranean crossings increased after Saied announced a crackdown on sub-Saharan migrants in February (using language which the African Union denounced as racialized).
Now Kais Saied has made it clear said Europe’s migration crisis will not be Tunisia’s problem to deal with, likely considering the risk of financial collapse this may entail for his country. Reforms would involve cuts directly to the population – a gamble Saied isn’t willing to toy with.
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