Tunisia, EU Sign Deal on Strategic Comprehensive Cooperation to Tackle Migration

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Tunisia and the European Union have signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic and comprehensive cooperation in various areas, including migration, the European Commission said on Sunday.

The signing ceremony was attended by Tunisian President Kais Saied, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the statement read.

"The Memorandum of Understanding covers five pillars: macro-economic stability, trade and investment, green energy transition, people-to people contacts, and migration. It will be implemented through the various strands of cooperation between the European Union and Tunisia, following the relevant regulations and applicable procedures," the statement also said.

As part of the cooperation, the two sides will work together to address a number of issues as regards migration, with the EU ready to provide financial assistance for that purpose, von der Leyen said at a joint press conference, following the signing ceremony.

"The fifth pillar [of the memorandum] is migration, where we need an effective cooperation, more than ever ... We will also increase our coordination on search and rescue operations. And we agreed that we will cooperate on border management, anti-smuggling, return and addressing root causes, in full respect of the international law. For this, we will make available more than EUR 100 million [$112 million] of EU funding," the commission president said.

Giorgia Meloni said after the signing of the memorandum that an international conference on migration will take place on July 23 in Rome. The Tunisian president and leaders of Mediterranean countries are expected to take part.

The agreement came amid mounting concerns in the EU regarding the complex social and economic situation in Tunisia. In March, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the EU feared that a social or economic collapse in Tunisia would lead to a new influx of migrants to Europe.

In June, von der Leyen, Rutte and Meloni also traveled to Tunisia to discuss cooperation between the EU and the North African nation. During that visit, von der Leyen said that the EU was ready to provide a substantial assistance package exceeding 1 billion euros to support the Tunisian economy and combat illegal migration.