Senior Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have accused the European Commission of improperly disbursing €150m in funds to the Tunisian government as part of a deal intended to curb the migration wave to Italy.
In their speeches, they cited far-fetched pretexts of an alleged crackdown on democracy in Tunisia and alleged that the Tunisian government would somehow misuse these funds.
Members of the European Parliament on the committees for human rights, justice, and foreign affairs have decided to grill the executive branch. They have expressed concerns about a potential agreement between Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Egypt, which is set to be signed on Sunday.
Mounir Satouri, a French MEP and member of the foreign affairs committee told media that "that is not the Europe that we want to see...not the place which the EU should be holding in the world."
Earlier, Tunisian president Kais Saied signaled that his country was reluctant to assume the role of European gatekeeper who saves the EU from facing migrants from the African continent. "The solution will not be at the expense of Tunisia...we cannot be a guard for their countries," he told reporters during his visit to the port city of Sfax last June.
The Tunisian president stressed that the real problem is inequality and poverty in the continent, which lies at the root of the migration crisis. He urges the global community to work with Tunisia to “eliminate the reasons that led to this situation" – an idea that Western countries may accept on paper but eventually turned down.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the West's 'colonial approach' as a key source of challenges Global South faces today. He stressed that the West “has been practically parasitizing on other peoples for centuries, 500 years” and “tore apart the unfortunate peoples of Africa.”