EU To Hand Out €1B to Tunisia To Hold Back Migrants
Tunisian President Saied said he won’t be the EU’s border guard; Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled one billion reasons to change his mind.
Tunisian President Saied said he won’t be the EU’s border guard; Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled one billion reasons to change his mind.
Giorgia Meloni met with Tunisia’s president and prime minister as illegal immigration from North Africa continues to surge.
Tunisia’s accession into the bloc would provide the country with massive economic benefits, which in turn would improve the country’s social conditions.
The Monday rescue followed three others over the Easter weekend, which saw the deaths of at least 50 migrants, and the arrival—on the Italian island of Lampedusa—of 26 boats carrying 974 migrants on Easter Sunday.
After rescuing the four Tunisian migrants at sea in 2017, Italian authorities were found to have breached their human rights by failing to assess their asylum applications properly.
Le Monde reports that since the summer of 2022, an obscure group called the Nationalists Party has been running an anti-immigrant campaign on social media.
“If Tunisia collapses economically or socially, then we will be in a situation where new flows of migrants will come to Europe,” said Josep Borrell, EU foreign affairs commissioner.
It remains to be seen whether the UGTT trade union commands enough support, or whether the President’s reforms are ultimately favored by the Tunisian population.
Due to the dismal deportation rates, France plans to substantially reduce the number of visas it grants to Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan nationals.
The parliamentary election follows President Kais Saied’s dissolution of the parliament in July 2021.
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