AWhen the “strategic and comprehensive partnership” between the European Union and Tunisia was sealed on Sunday evening, Kaïs Saïed also made an appearance. “Today we face our common destiny,” said the country’s president. When “Team Europe” first visited on June 11, he avoided the stage. Which led to the oddity that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the heads of government of Italy and the Netherlands, Giorgia Meloni and Mark Rutte, appeared alone in front of the camera in the presidential palace in Carthage. On Sunday they stood next to Saïed. Even journalists were allowed, but they weren’t allowed to ask questions – a reminder that you’re dealing with an autocratic regime here.
The text of the memorandum of understanding was published just before midnight. He is not legally bound, it is a political statement. On the EU side, the Council of Member States still has to agree, unanimously, but internally this is seen as a formality. All member states want to curb uncontrolled migration across the Mediterranean and are willing to invest a lot of money to do so. That was already the case in spring 2016 when a deal was negotiated with Turkey. Of course, the one with Tunisia follows its own laws – and it is supposed to be the blueprint for further agreements with Egypt and Morocco. The EU Commission now speaks of “operative partnerships against people smuggling”.
Libya as a role model
Tunisia is to receive 105 million euros for this this year, twice as much as in 2022. The money will primarily go to border protection. The Tunisian coast guard is to be equipped in such a way that it can prevent more and more irregular migrants from leaving or intercept them in their own waters – so that they do not get to Italy. As a senior EU official explained on Monday, even before the new agreement, the Commission was funding the upgrading of 17 patrol boats with more powerful engines and searchlights. Now the country is to get eight complete ships and surveillance drones. The majority of the budget is used for this. The voluntary return of intercepted third-country nationals to their homeland is also to be funded with 15 million euros; this money goes to the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.
The model for this is the cooperation with Libya since the beginning of 2017. It has borne fruit in the meantime, but the smugglers have switched to the east coast around Benghazi, over which Tripoli has no control. In Tunisia the conditions are better. “The interception rate has increased quite significantly over the past few months,” the EU official said. According to its own account, the Tunisian coast guard has already prevented 30,000 people from crossing the Mediterranean this year. Despite this, more than 44,000 arrived in Italy from there, according to the latest UNHCR figures. In the past few weeks alone, there were a good 10,000, and only 1,000 in May. The official attributed the strong fluctuations in arrivals to the weather.
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