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Tunisia – European Union: The Agreement on Migration Is on Track

The memorandum of understanding between Tunisia and the European Union (EU) on migration should be signed tomorrow, Sunday, July 16, 2023, in Tunis. It was the Europeans who leaked the information. Tunisians are less talkative. The embarrassment is apparent, the commitment is real. (Illustration: sub-Saharan migrants begging in Sfax, Ph. Salah Dargouth).

“On Sunday, an agreement will be signed between the European Commission and Tunisia for community support action,” said Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday, July 14, 2023, on the sidelines of the “A new strategy for the Mediterranean” in Rome.

“This result is achieved thanks to the work of our country. There will be the Prime Minister (Giorgia Meloni, Ed). I believe that an important signal is being given to Tunisia in favor of the stability and growth of the entire African continent”, added Tajani, quoted by the Italian press agencies, while in Tunis, it is silence. radio. No official communication on the draft agreement on migration with the European Union to be signed tomorrow in Carthage.

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In catimini  

For Tunis, this agreement seems to have to pass on the sly, without prior debate, not even in parliament, yet totally won over to the President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed. What are we trying to hide from Tunisians? Unless the Tunisians are no longer considered as citizens but as subjects and they no longer have a say in matters concerning the international agreements made – or about to be made – by their leaders, agreements which bind them and the future of their children.  

“Italy has worked a lot on this agreement, even in a non-visible way”, underlined Tajani, adding that to reach an agreement “we intervened on many questions on a text shared by all, so we are going in the right direction. direction and the goal for which Italy has worked so hard with the whole government is achieved”.

Tajani then underlined that this is “an agreement which is essentially a financial commitment, part of a European strategy, and which will allow Tunisia to be in a position to face the necessary reforms with more serenity, to be a protagonist in the fight against human traffickers”.

So tomorrow Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will travel to Tunis again, as part of the dialogue for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with President Kais Saied. This was also announced by European Commission spokesperson Dana Spinant.

“We are not anticipating the content of what will be discussed at the Tunis meeting, discussions on the memorandum of understanding are still ongoing”, explained the spokesperson for the Commission during a briefing, yesterday, recalling that von der Leyen, Meloni and Rutte – Team Europe in negotiation with Saïed – have already traveled to Tunisia on June 11. At the time, signing the Memorandum seemed within reach and ratification was expected a few days later, with the visit to Tunis of Enlargement Commissioner Olivier Varhelyi.

However, the negotiations have slowed down, largely exceeding the deadline desired by the EU, namely the European summit at the end of June. We then understood that Tunisia was reluctant to take the step and finally became aware of the foreseeable consequences of the said agreement on its stability, especially since this agreement was going to make our country, de jure and de facto, the border guard of Europe. Apparently, we were wrong. The draft agreement was obviously already accepted by the Tunisian authorities, who were tempering and letting the storm of the latest events in Sfax pass, where clashes took place between citizens and sub-Saharan migrants.   

The hot potato

Regarding the criticisms of NGOs and some MEPs on the non-respect of migrants’ rights by the Tunisian authorities, Spinant underlined that, in general, with all the partners, “the position of the EU is that management must always be done in accordance with international law and human rights”.

In other words, Tunisia knows what awaits it: it will have to do the “dirty work” for a handful of euros while continuing to take criticism from Brussels on the non-respect of human rights. In fact, and to put it more trivially, Brussels is going to pass the hot potato to Tunis. As for human rights, of which these European hypocrites do not cease to beat our ears, everyone washed their hands of it a long time ago. And it is not the xenophobic extreme right, which is currently on the rise in Europe, which will take offense. This, the tenant of the palace of Carthage knows very well. 

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