EU, Tunisia Sign Migration Deal After Disasters

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

TUNIS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The European Union and Tunisia agreed to curb people fleeing war, persecution, and poverty more than a month after hundreds of migrants died at sea in one of Europe’s worst migrant disasters.

Under the deal inked in Tunis on Sunday, the EU and Tunisia will combat human traffickers and tighten borders amid a sharp increase in boats leaving the North African nation for Europe.

Brussels says it wants to prevent disasters such as on June 14 when up to 600 people, including many children, died in deep waters off the Greek coast when their fishing boat sank.

They left Libya hoping to reach Italy, though investigators have questioned the Greek coastguard’s claim that the boat “did not need rescue.”

Many boats also leave from Tunisia. Some 75,065 boat migrants had reached Italy by July 14 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, Reuters news agency noticed, citing official data.

Sunday’s deal followed weeks of talks and the EU’s pledge of significant aid to Tunisia amounting to 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) to help its battered economy, rescue state finances, and deal with a migration crisis. Most funds are contingent on economic reforms.

EU EXECUTIVE

The EU’s executive European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would also allocate 100 million euros to Tunisia to help it combat illegal migration.

The deal promotes macroeconomic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, and legal immigration, according to sources familiar with its content.

“It contains agreements on disrupting the business model of people smugglers and human traffickers, strengthening border control, and improving registration and return. All essential measures for bolstering efforts to stop irregular migration,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on the social network Twitter.

“We are very pleased; it is a further important step towards the creation of a true partnership between Tunisia and the EU, which can address in an integrated fashion the migration crisis,” added Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Miloni.

Tunisia says it needs the support as thousands of undocumented African migrants have flocked to the Tunisian city of Sfax in recent months seeking to head for Europe in traffickers’ boats, amounting to an unprecedented migration crisis for the North African nation.

However, Tunisia has also come under pressure to treat migrants more humanly after earlier this month, Tunisian authorities transported 500 to 700 people from sub-Saharan Africa to its remote desert border with Libya. They then left the desperate migrants without food, water, or medical attention, aid workers noticed.

ROUNDED UP

They had reportedly been rounded up after clashes broke out between sub-Saharan Africans and Tunisian residents in the coastal city of Sfax.

Only after days, authorities allowed the Tunisian Red Crescent to supply aid, and within a week, reports said they were transported to towns in the south of Tunisia.

Meloni, who says Italy suffered a sharp increase in immigration boats, said there would be an international conference on migration in Rome next Sunday with several heads of state, including Tunisian President Kais Saied.

Hungary has demanded a more uncompromising stand on migration, with its nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán refusing to participate in an EU plan to distribute migrants seeking asylum more fairly among the 27 member states.

Orbán says his country doesn’t want to see “migrant ghettos” and an influx of mainly Muslim refugees that he claims threaten Europe’s traditional Christian identity.

The Vatican and several European Christian politicians say the continent should remain open for genuine refugees fleeing hardship.

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