Tunisia has said it will not be a “reception centre” for returns of sub-Saharan migrants from Italy or any other country in Europe despite a groundbreaking €1bn deal signed on Sunday.
Authorities in the north African country are determined not to enter a contract similar to that which the UK has with Rwanda and will take back only Tunisians who have made irregular entry to the EU.
This appears to be a setback for the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who won significant compromises last month in the wording of draft migration legislation that would enable authorities to return people to countries they were smuggled through even if they were in the country for only a few days or weeks.
A senior EU official confirmed the tough line taken by the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, who had previously warned the EU that Tunisia would not act as the EU’s “border guard”.
The source said: “That is a point on which the Tunisian authorities feel they have communicated this clearly – that they … shouldn’t be a reception point for irregular migrants generally coming from Europe.”
Potentially it could still mean significant numbers of people being returned to Tunisia. About 8,000 people arrived irregularly in the EU from Tunisia in April, 1,000 in May and 5,000 in June.
A pact on migration was signed on Sunday night after a flying visit to Tunisia by the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, Meloni and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, their second trip in five weeks.
It includes a deal to return thousands of Tunisian migrants who take the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean to Italy, along with a new initiative to accelerate legal routes for Tunisians to work or study in the EU.
As part of the agreement, €105m will be allocated to help Tunisia deal with people smugglers. Around €15m will be available to deliver contracts with humanitarian organisations such as the Red Crescent to transport and support migrants who wish to return to their home countries.
Tunisia has faced criticism over its treatment of migrants since February, after Saied accused “hordes” of migrants from sub-Saharan African countries of a “plot” to change the country’s demographic makeup.
Cash-strapped Tunisia, a key route for migrants trying to make their way to Europe, has since seen a rise in racially motivated attacks. Tensions came to a head after a Tunisian man was killed on 3 July in a clash between local people and migrants in the city of Sfax.
Since then, hundreds of migrants fled their homes in Tunisia or were forcibly evicted and driven to desert areas along the borders with Algeria and Libya, left to fend for themselves in searing heat.
Von der Leyen hailed the overall package as groundbreaking and said it included “significant” measures to stem deadly irregular migration across the Mediterranean.
The pact had been in negotiation since early June when EU interior ministers hammered out a deal on migration laws including on returns to transit countries, new rules on relocation of migrants across the bloc and €20,000 charge per head to countries who could not take their allocation of people in the asylum process.
Undocumented sub-Saharan Africans in Tunisia received 3bn dinars (about £750m) in remittances from their countries during the first half of 2023, an official from the Tunisia national security council said in a meeting on Friday.
The memorandum of understanding has to be agreed by leaders of the bloc but in its current form includes plans for significant economic and educational ties to be developed.
As part of the deal the EU will work with Tunisia to deliver renewable energy through solar and windfarms with electricity routed back to the EU through a new sub-marine cable connecting to Italy.
The offer of €900m in macro finance is still on the table, while the EU will also reopen talks on an association agreement with Tunisia alongside talks on allowing it become a member of the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ student exchange programmes.