The Tunisian authorities did not
endorse the payment by the European Commission of 60 million
euros in budget support, the Tunisian foreign ministry said on
Thursday.
The ministry referred "to the content of the press release from
the Presidency of the Republic of 2 October 2023" in which
Tunisian President Kais Saied rejected the "charity" funds.
On Wednesday European Commission spokesperson for neighbourhood
and enlargement Ana Pisonero confirmed that "earlier this week,
the Commission has indeed processed the payment of €60 million
in grants to the Tunisian treasury following a request from the
Tunisian government on the 31st of August".
She added that the disbursement did not come from funds promised
under the memorandum of understanding signed between the
European Union and Tunisia in mid-July as part of efforts to
curb irregular migration to Europe, but from a separate
127-million-euro financial package announced in September.
Her comments came after Saied on Tuesday rejected the offer.
"Tunisia, which accepts cooperation, does not accept anything
resembling charity or favour, because our country and our people
do not want sympathy and do not accept it when it is without
respect," said Saied said, according to the press release.
"Consequently, Tunisia refuses what has been announced in recent
days by the EU" because it "contradicts the memorandum of
understanding signed in Tunis in the spirit that prevailed at
the Rome conference last July", he continued.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was instrumental in
brokering the deal, said on Wednesday she agreed with Saied on
the need to change the approach to African countries.
"I think that President Saied, certainly in an assertive tone,
was addressing public opinion," she said.
"After that he is not saying anything very different from what
Italy is also saying, which is that the relationship with
African countries must change because we have had a
paternalistic approach with these countries, a bit as if we felt
superior, which is not the right way to deal with these matters.
"With these nations we must work with respect, as equals, with
an approach that is that of a strategic partnership," she added.
At an international conference on migration and development in
Rome in July Meloni launched a "dialogue of equals" between
countries on both shores
of the Mediterranean and further afield as part of efforts to
find solutions to irregular migration to Europe and promote
cooperation in the fields of agriculture, energy,
infrastructure, education and healthcare.
Meloni said that in order to tackle migration, partnerships with
countries of origin and transit "must be equal, non-predatory,
multidimensional and long-term".
They "must be based on respect and not on a paternalistic
approach, on solidarity, on respect for each other's
sovereignty, on shared responsibility for upholding legality,"
the premier added.
This, she insisted, "is the only serious way to strengthen our
bond, trust each other and foster the development and prosperity
of our peoples".
Photo: from left to right, Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Tunisian President
Kais Saied and Italian Premier Giorga Meloni on the occasion of
the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the EU
and Tunisia in Tunis in July.
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