The European Council on Friday adopted the conclusions of the summit on “External relations and the Eastern Mediterranean”, in which it welcomes the agreement being negotiated with Tunisia.
He said this was a model to be replicated in the future with other partners in the region.
The Council “had a strategic discussion on relations with the southern neighborhood and welcomes the work accomplished with a view to a partnership with Tunisia which is beneficial for both parties”.
The government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made what is known as the “external dimension” of migration – relations with third countries such as Tunisia and Libya for the management of migration flows to Europe – a pillar of its migration policy and has lobbied for a similar approach to be adopted at European level as well.
Meloni visited Tunisia twice earlier this month, the second time accompanied by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, as part of efforts to achieve an agreement on cooperation on migration with Tunis.
The three European leaders presented an investment program and promised to deploy diplomatic efforts to help Tunisia obtain a loan of 1.9 billion dollars from the IMF to enable it to alleviate its serious financial crisis and to avoid the risk of default.
The unstable situation in Tunisia has been one of the main factors behind the considerable increase in the number of migrants arriving in Italy from across the Mediterranean this year, underlines, for its part, the official Italian news agency ANSA, reporting on the CE meeting.
