TUNIS, Tunisia (HRNW) — European leaders visiting Tunisia on Sunday held out the promise of more than 1 billion euros in financial aid to rescue its teetering economy and better police its borders, to restore stability to the North African country — and to stem migration from its shores to Europe.
A Tunisian rights group denounced the EU proposal as ’’blackmail,” saying it would worsen abuses of migrants and was aimed at closing Europe’s doors to those in need.
Tunisia’s increasingly autocratic president hosted the leaders of Italy, the Netherlands and the European Commission for talks aimed at smoothing the way for an international financial bailout of the troubled country.
On the eve of the talks, Tunisian President Kais Saied made an unannounced visit to a migrant camp in the coastal city of Sfax, a central jumping-off point for boat journeys crossing the Mediterranean to Italy. Saied spoke with families living in the camp and pleaded for international aid for Africans who converge on Tunisia as a transit point to reach Europe.