Time.news – Tunisia is worrying. In Brussels many repeat it. He worries on the economic, political fronts, the stability of the country and the impact on migration to the European Union, Italy in primis. The Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, had asked last month to include the Tunisian dossier on the agenda of the meeting on Monday 20 March with his counterparts in Brussels. In the meantime, the situation has further deteriorated, resulting in the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Taoufik Charfeddine, replaced by Kamal Feki, governor of Tunis since 2021 and a loyal loyalist of the president.
#Tunisia: Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, on Friday evening, announced his resignation from his position. #TAP_One pic.twitter.com/KkmHCZenPE
— TAP news agency (@TapNewsAgency) March 17, 2023
“It is a key country for our neighborhood but is currently experiencing a very serious economic and political situation. We have seen a deterioration of democracy, the rule of law, human rights, with the arrest of opposition figures and civil society. All things that go outside the spirit of the Jasmine Revolution we hoped for and this obviously also has repercussions on migration. I expect Italy will raise the issue”, explained a senior EU official who worked on the preparations for the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the Twenty-seven. “We are trying to convince the Tunisian authorities to respect the conditions to get the support by the International Monetary Fund,” he added.
On Monday, the EU will decide its political action towards the country. There will also be firm condemnation of the latest policies deemed xenophobic and contrary to the principles of the rule of law. But the opposition on the balance between rights and stability weighs on the table. Many fear the risk of a new Libyan scenario if the situation were to get out of control, even if not very democratic.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament has been very clear. In a resolution adopted last Thursday, Euro MPs urged the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, and member states to publicly denounce the sharp deterioration in the human rights situation, and called for the suspension of specific programs to support the EU to the Ministries of Justice and the Interior.
Tunisians in the square
The Strasbourg Parliament also strongly condemned “President Kais Said’s racist speech against sub-Saharan migrants and the attacks that followed” and called on the authorities to “respect international and national laws”.
On February 21, President Saied launched into a xenophobic speech in which he spoke of “hordes of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa” who arrived in Tunisia, bringing “the violence, crimes and unacceptable behavior that resulted”. The head of state called it an “unnatural” situation, part of a criminal plan to “change the demographic composition” and make Tunisia “another African state that no longer belongs to the Arab and Islamic world”.
Words that have triggered a wave of violence against African migrants and prompted several West African countries to organize repatriation flights for fearful citizens. Many of the approximately 21,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in Tunisia have found themselves without work and homeless.