Italy’s leader keeps the focus on migration on her fourth visit to Tunisia in a year
Days after Tunisia’s president insisted that he remains unwilling to let Europe outsource migration problems to his country, Italy’s prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that the North African nation “cannot become the arrival point for migrants coming from the rest of Europe.” On her fourth visit to Tunisia in the past year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sidestepped tensions over how to manage migration via the Mediterranean. She instead praised Tunisia and Italy’s shared priorities in fighting human traffickers and repatriating African migrants back to their home countries.
Meloni and Tunisian President Kais Saied signed new accords as part of Italy’s “Mattei Plan” for Africa, a continent-wide strategy aimed at growing economic opportunities and preventing migration to Europe. Meloni also promised to expand efforts to repatriate migrants to their home countries.
“It is essential that we work together to continue to fight the slavers of the third millennium, the mafia organizations that exploit the legitimate aspirations of those who would like a better life,” Meloni said, referring to smugglers who facilitate migrants traveling across the Mediterranean.
European leaders often frame migration as a human trafficking issue, though migrants are known to make the trip in various ways and for a variety of reasons.
Nearly 16,000 migrants have made the treacherous journey from North Africa to Italy thus far in 2024, traveling hundreds of kilometers from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, mainly to islands off the Italian mainland.