Brussels, 01/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Tunisia, which over recent weeks has recorded new cases of attempted illegal immigration to Italy, has started talks with that country for better control and will "start, next week (i.e. this week) a series of negotiations with the countries of the European Union" on the subject, Culture Minister Mehdi Mabrouk said on Friday 28 September, at a round table held in Tunis by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (REMDH), amongst others.
Up to now, 8000 illegal immigrants have landed on the shores of Italy since the beginning of 2012, compared to 60,000 in 2011, the Italian Home Affairs Minister Annamaria Cancellieri said on Wednesday in an address, quoted in the media, to the Chamber of Deputies. Tunisia is facing “a completely irrational movement. In 2011, 30,000 Tunisians left the country. This year, in the month of August, we were at just 2000. We need Europe to fight illegal immigration but we have acted, with our resources” said Houcine Jaziri, Secretary of State for Tunisians abroad, at a meeting held in Marseilles by the World Bank and the IOM (International Organisation for Migration).
The Tunisian government is prepared to do its duty, but “does not accept the role of policeman of the Mediterranean” and asks to “benefit in return from economic and social advantages”, the minister added, quoted by the Tunisian media. “The drama of the boat which sank off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa condemns the legislative and border control mechanism to failure”, he added, regretting the fact that the agreement between Tunisia and the European countries had not been applied. In the view of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), Tunisia is capable of dealing alone with a large number of Tunisians and Africans who make fairly frequent attempts to leave Tunisian soil and head to Europe illegally, said its president, Abdessatar Ben Moussa. The representative of REMDH for his part called for “urgency in reviewing the migration policy and the agreements concluded with the host countries”. Sihem Bensedrine, one of the most prominent figures of the democratic opposition, said that the “European side has obstructed the channels of legal emigration to continue to profit from networks of illegal immigration”. (FB/transl.fl)