Tunisian president refuses EU 'charity'

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 3 - Tunisian President Kais Saied on Monday evening refused what he called "charity" from the EU in the shape of 60 million euros in budget support for the north African country and a package of operational assistance on migration worth 67 million euros in support of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the two.
    Saied said the funds contradicted the spirit of the MOU he signed with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in mid July.
    The Memorandum of Understanding features five pillars - macro-economic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, people-to people contacts, and migration - and includes financial assistance.
    Meloni has said she considered it a "model" for relations between the bloc and north African countries.
    Tunisia is in the midst of severe financial crisis and the unstable situation has been a major factor in a huge increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving in Italy by sea this year.
    Saied said Monday evening that Tunis accepted cooperation with the EU but not charity.
    "Tunisia, which accepts cooperation, does not accept either chairity of alms," he said, adding that "our country and our people do not want pity, but demand respect".
    He added: "Tunisia rejects what was announced by the Eu in the last few days, not for the amount in question, because all the wealth in the world is not worth a gramme of our sovereignty, but because the proposal contradicts the memorandum of understanding signed in Tunis in the spirit that prevailed at the Rome conference last July". (ANSA).