In Tunisia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Tunisian President Kais Saied met to discuss the agreement on migration. The agreement, signed on Sunday night, means that the European Union will allocate EUR 1 billion to the country of North Africa to establish stricter border controls and to control the ‘irregular migration’ of Europe’s fugitives.

According to this, migratory routes in the Mediterranean will bring thousands of people back from Tunisia to Italy. They agree to “accelerate” the process of opening “legal steps” so that Tunisians can study or work in the EU.

The Tunisian authorities have, however, ensured that the agreement does not mean that the country is a “reception point” for sub-Saharan migrants returning from Europe, but that they will only welcome back the tunics that have been introduced “irregularly” into the EU. President Saied clarifies that they will not be “the Border Police” and that they will not sign a similar agreement between the United Kingdom and Rwanda, as The Guardian has stated. At the moment, around 8,000 people from Tunisia entered the EU “unlawfully” in 2023, according to the newspaper. The number of people who have migrated in June from Tunisia has increased considerably, from 1,000 in January to 5,000 in June.

Tunisia’s President, Saied, is receiving great opposition and criticism through pronounced racist messages about migrants arriving in the country. But above all, because in July 2021, it struck a coup d'état and established a new constitution that gave the president all state power.