EU unable to retrieve €150m paid to Tunisia despite links to rights violations

Tunisian authorities intercept boats of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean under the EU deal. Allegations of abuse by Tunisia’s security forces are widespread. Photograph: Zuma/Alamy

The EU will be unable to claw back any of the €150m (£125m) paid to Tunisia despite the money being increasingly linked to human rights violations, including allegations that sums went to security forces who raped migrant women.

The European Commission paid the amount to the Tunis government in a controversial migration and development deal, despite concerns that the north African state was increasingly authoritarian and its police largely operated with impunity.