Tunisia and EU sign pact to fight illegal immigration
The European Union has signed a "strategic" pact with President Kais Saied to stem the flow of migration to Europe, as well as promoting economic development and renewable energy.
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The EU is Tunisia's biggest trading partner and Sunday's deal follows weeks of talks and Europe's pledge of major aid to Tunisia amounting to €1 billion to help its battered economy, rescue state finances and deal with a migration crisis.
Most funds are contingent on economic reforms.
The European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc will allocate €100 million to Tunisia to help it combat illegal migration. The deal also promotes trade and investment, offers financial aid to schools in Tunisia and renewable energy initiatives.
Speaking at the Tunisian presidential palace, von der Leyen said Sunday's accord aims to "invest in shared prosperity".
"We need an effective cooperation, more than ever" on migration, she said, announcing greater cooperation against "networks of smugglers and traffickers" and in search and rescue operations.
More aid
Sunday's deal follows talks in June, when von der Leyen, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni met Saied and promised up to €900 million in aid to help the country's economy.
The European Commission also announced at the time that it would supply a further €105 million in 2023 to curb irregular migration.
"We are very pleased, it is a further important step towards creation of a true partnership between Tunisia and the EU, which can address in an integrated fashion the migration crisis," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
Italy has seen a sharp increase in migrants arriving by sea – 75,065 had reached Italy by 14 July against 31,920 in the same period last year, official data showed.
More than half left from Tunisia, overtaking Libya, which has traditionally been the main launchpad.
Meloni said that there would be an international conference on migration in Rome next Sunday with a number of heads of state, including president Saied.
'Unlimited generosity'
Tunisia's struggling economy and high unemployment have pushed people to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe, but the north African country has also become a launchpad for undocumented African migrants trying to reach Europe.
Thousands have flocked to the port city of Sfax in recent months. President Saied has accused such "hordes" of migrants of a "plot" to change the country's demographic makeup.
Tunisia has since seen a rise in racially motivated attacks, with hundreds of migrants forced to flee their homes in Tunisia or forcibly evicted and driven to desert areas along the borders with Algeria and Libya.
The International Organization for Migration has said 2,406 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean in 2022, while at least 1,166 deaths or disappearance were recorded in the first half of 2023.
Saied has called for a "collective agreement on inhuman immigration and [forced] displacements of people by criminal networks".
He insisted that Tunisia "gave the migrants everything it can offer with unlimited generosity".
Hours before the announcement, correspondents from France's AFP news agency at the Tunisian-Libyan border saw dozens of exhausted and dehydrated migrants in a desert area, claiming they were taken there by Tunisian authorities.
(with agencies)
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