MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) questioned, on Thursday 31 August, the Director General of the European Commission’s DG NEAR, Gert Jan Koopman, on the agreement sealed in July between Tunisia and the EU, represented at the time by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the Netherlands, Mark Rutte (see EUROPE 13224/3).
In particular, they questioned the method chosen by these three officials and the implications of this agreement for the EU’s image at a time when Tunisia is accused of sending migrants to their deaths by pushing them back into the desert.
German Socialist Udo Bullmann (S&D) and German EPP member Michael Gahler asked why this agreement, based on five pillars, notably macroeconomic and migration, with €150 million to prevent flows into the EU, “was not done within the framework of the existing association agreement”.
The French Greens/EFA MEP, Mounir Satouri, also criticised the European Parliament’s exclusion and pointed out that 13 Member States had also raised concerns about the method during the month of August (see EUROPE 13235/3).
The director general acknowledged that “more upstream discussions” would be needed. But while some Member States have criticised the procedure, “the Council of the EU now wants to move on to implementing” the agreement.
As for the association agreement, the European official acknowledged that some of the pillars of the July agreement could have been included in this framework, but the association agreement would not have allowed for “the same urgency” and the same determination.
As for the EU’s cooperation with countries described as dictatorships, the EU official said that the EU could not afford the luxury of avoiding countries on the basis of their type of regime. “It is not up to the Commission to judge this democratically elected government”, the official added, also rejecting the fact that this agreement would focus solely on migration and preventing people from leaving for the EU.
The economic and energy aspects are just as important. “It’s only if we stabilise the economy” in Tunisia that things can improve.
On Thursday 31 August in Toledo (see separate news item), Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said it was important to work “for the stability of Tunisia” and “to invest more money in implementing the agreement and putting an end to illegal immigration”.
Controversial comments by Manfred Weber
The Party of European Socialists has criticised comments on immigration made by Manfred Weber, the German leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, to Politico, the same media reported on 31 August. Mr Weber had pointed the finger at “those (in the EU) who only moralise and say that we can’t talk to Tunisia, that they are no partners for us, because there are some videos from the desert or something, these are the moralisers”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Camille Cerise Gessant)