The European Union on Sunday offered millions of euros in financial support to Tunisia, to boost its economy and reduce the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.
The EU is ready to offer Tunisia a 900-million-euro package plus 150 million euros in immediate support, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said on a joint visit to Tunis with the Italian and Dutch prime ministers.
Aside from trade and investment, it would help Tunisia with border management and to combat human trafficking, with support worth 100 million euros this year, she said.
"We both have a vast interest in breaking the cynical business model of smugglers and traffickers," said von der Leyen. "It is horrible to see how they deliberately risk human lives for profit."
She said other EU projects would help Tunisia export clean renewable energy to the bloc and deliver high-speed broadband, all with the aim of creating jobs and boosting growth "here in Tunisia".
After talks with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Von der Leyen said she hoped an agreement could be signed at the next European summit later this month.
Economic crisis
Von der Leyen visited Tunisia with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.
EU governments, under pressure to reduce migrant arrivals, last week agreed on steps to fast-track migrant returns to their countries of origin or transit countries deemed "safe", including Tunisia.
Tunisia lies less than 150 kilometres from the Italian island of Lampedusa and has long been a stepping stone for people from all over Africa seeking to reach Europe.
An increasing number of the migrants hail from Tunisia, whose tourism-based economy was hit hard by the Covid pandemic and which is now in a serious economic crisis marked by high inflation and unemployment.
Not Europe's 'border guard'
Saied has in the past vowed "urgent measures" to tackle arrivals in Tunisia.
Tunisian rights groups accused him of hate speech after he claimed earlier this year that "hordes" of sub-Saharan African migrants were responsible for rising crime and posed a "demographic" threat.
Attacks on migrants rose sharply after his speech, and thousands fled the country.
Saied said on Saturday that he would not turn Tunisia into Europe's "border guard".
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, a local NGO, denounced the visit by the three European leaders as an attempt to "blackmail" Tunisia with an offer of financial support in return for stepped-up border vigilance.
(with AFP)
