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Commission unveils aid to Tunisia in bid to reduce migrant numbers
The European Commission today announced almost €127m in assistance to Tunisia to help reduce the number of migrants heading to the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean.
The aid includes €60m in budget support as well as about €67m for an “operational assistance package on migration”.
The money “will now be disbursed in the coming days and contracted and delivered swiftly”, the commission said.
EU commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, spoke with the Tunisian foreign minister, Nabil Ammar, yesterday, and a delegation of commission officials will travel to Tunisia next week.
In its statement, the commission said it was committed to moving ahead with the implementation of a memorandum of understanding agreed with Tunisia in July. The sides were “prioritising actions in the field of migration” and cooperating “to crack down on the smuggling networks”.
The EU’s deal with Tunisia has met with significant criticism from parliamentarians, as well as a number of EU governments.
Key events
The clock is ticking on EU migration reform
“The window of opportunity is really closing” for the EU to agree on new migration and asylum rules, according to Elena Yoncheva, a member of the European Parliament who chairs the Asylum Contact Group in the negotiations.
Speaking to the Guardian, the Bulgarian socialist said that “the member states still cannot agree on what to do and how to share responsibility in time of crisis.”
The reform “is based on a very delicate balance” between security, responsibility and solidarity, she said.
“Without a long-term mechanism” on what to do in a crisis such as the situation in Lampedusa, “this balance will be broken.”
And there’s not much time left to agree, she warned, pointing out that Hungary and Poland are scheduled to hold the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency – Hungary in the second half of 2024 and Poland in the first half of 2025.
As European policymakers continue debating how to address arrivals in Italy and beyond, the International Rescue Committee is calling out officials for failing to put in place effective policies.
“The current situation is really an entirely predictable and avoidable consequence of the policy vacuum that’s been created by the inability of European member states over such a long time to reach agreement on these long overdue and much-needed reforms of the asylum system,” said Imogen Sudbery, IRC’s senior advocacy director for Europe.
Speaking to the Guardian today, Sudbery said that “what we’re seeing at the moment is that the price of this policy vacuum is being paid not only by refugees and migrants” but “also it’s the local communities that are paying the price because they’re not properly prepared and supported to welcome new arrivals”.
“The answer is not to invest in preventing migrants from reaching Europe at all costs,” she said.
“What we would want to see in our view, and the only way forward, is a comprehensive and fully reformed system which is founded on three key prongs: humane and dignified reception, responsibility sharing and the opening up of safe pathways.”
German parliament debates migration policy
Kate Connolly
Germany’s parliament has been vigorously debating the country’s migration policy this morning, with opposition conservatives calling on the government of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to tighten rules to prevent what it refers to as “irregular migration”, and to create more of a streamlined system, which would make a clearer distinction between asylum seekers and economic migrants.
Alexander Dobrindt, head of the regional faction of the Christian Social Union party urged Scholz to seek consensus with the opposition, in an effort to solve an issue, which he said was in danger of developing into a “huge societal conflict”.
Dobrindt was particularly scathing about a proposal rumoured to have been put forward by the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, which would expand current rules governing the number of family members who can be brought together with those migrants already in the country, suggesting this would only “fuel and encourage” irregular migration.
Subsequently questioned by German media, the interior minister said the proposal was outdated and was no longer being considered. Instead priority was being given to the “management and limitation” of irregular migration, such as by lengthening the maximum period of a custody pending departure, from 10 to 28 days, as contained in the ministry’s proposals made in August for a “more effective returns” policy.
Faeser, who took to the floor of the house after Dobrindt, accused him of “pure populism”, of adding fuel to the fire of an already heated debate and suggesting to the electorate that there were simple solutions. “Stop taking the wrong path, by electioneering on the backs of people who are threatened by war and terror,” she said, in reference to the upcoming regional elections in Bavaria, where the CSU has its roots.
Faeser then made reference to the planned reforms to the European Union’s asylum system, to Germany’s collaboration with authorities in Poland and the Czech Republic, where border controls have been tightened as well as more police resources for carrying out random police checks, in order to tackle human smuggling. “We’re doing something, while you’re only making demands,” she said.
According to Germany’s Office for Migration and Refugees, a total of 220,116 people sought asylum in Germany between January and August this year, a rise of over 77% in comparison to the same period last year. In addition, by the end of July the federal police force had registered over 56,000 unauthorised arrivals since the start of the year.
Also, about a million people from Ukraine have fled to Germany since the start of the Russian invasion.
Migration could be ‘dissolving force for EU’, says bloc’s top diplomat
Patrick Wintour
Migration could be “a dissolving force for the European Union” because of deep cultural differences between European countries and their long-term inability to reach a common policy, the EU’s most senior diplomat has said.
In wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, Josep Borrell said that “we are living in a circle of instability from Gibraltar to the Caucasus and this happened before the Ukrainian war and will continue after the Ukrainian war”.
“Migration in Africa is not being caused by the war against Ukraine. The root causes of migration in Africa are lack of development, economic growth and bad governance.”
He said European efforts to cooperate with some African countries had been made more difficult by the existence of military regimes. He described the Wagner group, the Russian mercenary outfit, as “the praetorian guard of the African dictators”.
Asked if he believed Russia would try to fan the flames of migration, he said “Putin will try everything”. He added: “Putin believes that democracies are weak, fragile, they get tired and time is running on his side, because sooner or later, we will get exhausted. And this is a political battle as much as a military battle. It has to be explained with arguments. Certainly nobody likes to pay more for the electricity bills. I believe in democracy as a pedagogical exercise, and I believe that people understand the reasons.”
But he also acknowledged the harsh choices Europe faced in curbing migration by reaching deals with countries such as Tunisia, pointing out it is his duty to defend not just European values but at the same time European interests. “The life of the diplomat is full of uncomfortable choices … Foreign policy is working for the values and the interests of the European Union. And these require, in some cases, difficult choices trying all the time to respect international law and human rights.”
Read the full story here.
Lisa O’Carroll
More arrivals data from Frontex
Eastern Mediterranean to Greece, January to August 2023
Arrivals: 24,094
Top nationalities
Syria: 6,171
Palestine: 2,895
Afghanistan: 2,437
Somalia: 1,654
Iraq: 1,500
Western Balkans, January to August 2023
Arrivals: 70,548
Top nationalities
Syria: 34,244
Unknown: 16,680
Afghanistan: 6,392
Turkey: 4,153
Pakistan: 1,686
Morocco to Spain, January to August 2023
Total arrivals 9,447
Top nationalities
Morocco: 5158
Algeria: 3056
Guinea: 267
Syria: 245
Sudan: 189
Lisa O’Carroll
Arrivals in Italy by the numbers
The Tunisia to Italy route is the people smuggler’s route of choice in Africa by a long stretch. The following are latest figures from Frontex, the EU border protection agency.
Between January and August 2023, 114,265 people arrived in Italy.
By contrast fewer than 10,000 have crossed from Morocco, a much shorter route to traverse by boat.
Top nationalities of arrivals in Italy:
Unknown: 19,499
Guinea: 13,788
Côte d’Ivoire: 13,624
Tunisia: 8,988
Egypt: 8,059
European commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said this week in an interview in La Stampa that criminal operations had quadrupled in Tunisia this year leading to increase in search and rescue.
“In 2022 the Tunisian coast guard had intercepted 9,376 migrants, this year we are already at 24,000. Last year, they had also rescued 32,459 people at sea, and this year already 50,000. They more than doubled their efforts but unfortunately the traffickers quadrupled them or even more,” he told La Stampa.
Commission unveils aid to Tunisia in bid to reduce migrant numbers
The European Commission today announced almost €127m in assistance to Tunisia to help reduce the number of migrants heading to the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean.
The aid includes €60m in budget support as well as about €67m for an “operational assistance package on migration”.
The money “will now be disbursed in the coming days and contracted and delivered swiftly”, the commission said.
EU commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, spoke with the Tunisian foreign minister, Nabil Ammar, yesterday, and a delegation of commission officials will travel to Tunisia next week.
In its statement, the commission said it was committed to moving ahead with the implementation of a memorandum of understanding agreed with Tunisia in July. The sides were “prioritising actions in the field of migration” and cooperating “to crack down on the smuggling networks”.
The EU’s deal with Tunisia has met with significant criticism from parliamentarians, as well as a number of EU governments.
Ashifa Kassam
Belgium to move ahead with denying shelter to single male asylum seekers
Belgium’s government has said it will forge ahead with plans to deny shelter to single male asylum seekers, despite a court decision ordering it to halt the controversial policy.
The government announced the move last month, describing it as a temporary measure to make space for families and children as the country readies for a potential increase in asylum seekers.
The idea of leaving single men to fend for themselves was swiftly slammed by opposition politicians and lawyers who accused the government of turning its back on international commitments.
Rights organisations and aid groups also weighed in, warning that the policy would force asylum seekers to sleep on the streets in freezing temperatures, increasing their risk of physical and mental harm.
This week the government reiterated its plans to move forward with the policy despite the court ruling. “Just because the council of state says so, it doesn’t mean that it would suddenly be possible to give these people spots,” the state secretary for asylum and migration Nicole de Moor told Politico. “There are no extra spots.”
Last year male asylum seekers accounted for 71% of claims across the EU, according to the EU’s Agency for Asylum. The reasons given for their prevalence in the system vary, including the fact that the costs and extreme dangers of the route to Europe mean that families often send males first.
Pope Francis underlines his hope to promote integration ahead of trip to Marseille.
I ask you to accompany my journey to Marseille with prayer. This journey coincides with Recontres Méditerranéennes which hopes to promote avenues of collaboration and integration around the mare nostrum paying special attention to the phenomenon of migration.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 22, 2023
Marine Le Pen and 24 others should face trial over alleged misuse of EU funds, Paris public prosecutor says
The Paris public prosecutor’s office said today that far-right leader Marine Le Pen and 24 others should stand trial over alleged misuse of EU funds, Reuters reports.
The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, have used the situation in Lampedusa “for political campaigning,” according to Dutch European parliament member Sophie in ‘t Veld.
“I find that reprehensible,” in ‘t Veld told the Guardian.
The Dutch politician, who is a member of the centrist Renew Europe group and part of the parliament’s Asylum Contact Group, also blasted the commission and some EU leaders for their handling of a controversial deal with Tunisia.
Von der Leyen travelled to Tunisia in July with Meloni and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, for the unveiling of a €1bn pact to help stem irregular migration. The group presented itself as “Team Europe.”
“Can somebody please show me in the European treaties where this new EU body is? What the hell is Team Europe?” in ‘t Veld said.
“Can we ask the leader of Team Europe to come before the European parliament? Can we request access to documents? Can we sack them? It’s nothing, so it’s deeply undemocratic,” she said.
“The problem with Mrs von der Leyen is that although I like her and the fact that she’s showing initiative and leadership and determination … she has utter contempt for basic democratic rules.”
“On the substance of the Tunisia deal,” the Dutch parliamentarian added, “it was entirely obvious that it wasn’t going to work and that it was going to be a disaster for human rights – and that’s exactly what happened.”
Speaking of the bloc’s efforts to agree on a migration and asylum pact, in ‘t Veld said: “I’m still hopeful that we will get there, but there’s no guarantee.”
EU using aid to stop migration rather than poverty, report says
Ashifa Kassam
A report published this week by Oxfam found that the EU is increasingly using foreign aid to externalise its borders rather than promote development and eradicate poverty – a finding that suggests the EU is falling short of international standards on aid funding.
“European aid is being used as a tool to stop migration instead of what it is meant for: stopping poverty,” Stephanie Pope, Oxfam’s EU migration expert, said in a statement.
The report delved into 16 programs related to migration in Niger, Libya and Tunisia, finding that six of them potentially breach the OECD’s standards on foreign aid. In total, the funding provided for these six programs was around €667 million.
Of the eight activities analysed in Niger, for example, only one supports safe and regular migration. In a country where up to 40% of people live in extreme poverty, “aid is being rerouted to slam the brakes on migration to Europe,” said Konate Papa Sosthène, the country director at Oxfam Niger.
The report also noted that transparency was limited when it comes to how the EU spends aid funds, with explanations often plagued by an absence of clear definitions.
“When it comes to migration, in many cases, we are in the dark about how EU taxpayer funds, meant to combat poverty, are actually being used,” said Pope.
NGOs call for more help at sea ahead of pope visit
Ahead of Pope Francis’ trip to Marseille today, a number of organisations have reiterated their call for more assistance for rescue efforts at sea.
“Last month, we witnessed firsthand the lack of resources to save lives in the central Mediterranean,” said Jérôme, a deputy search and rescue coordinator onboard civil rescue ship Ocean Viking.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that “in 36 hours of nonstop operations, we rescued 623 people.”
“It was clear that there were more people at risk of losing their lives than we could assist,” he said, adding: “The work we do is vital, but we cannot do it alone.”
Sophie Beau, co-founder of SOS MEDITERRANEE, said that “the unfathomable death toll in the Mediterranean this year could have been prevented if the political will was there.”
Citing the pope’s upcoming visit, she also called “for global sea rescue missions and an end to the harassment of humanitarian Search and Rescue organisations.”
Diane Taylor
The Bibby Stockholm, a UK barge that briefly housed asylum seekers, has had “satisfactory” test results for legionella, after tests initially found the presence of the potentially deadly bacteria, the Guardian has learned.
The British Home Office, which hopes to hold hundreds of people seeking asylum on the barge in Portland, received the most recent legionella results on 4 September and government sources said they were not planning to make the results public. The Guardian obtained the results in freedom of information data from Dorset council.
In these most recent results, all the water samples tested for legionella were deemed “satisfactory”, although some of the bacteria were identified in two of the samples. In three previous sets of tests, at least some of the samples tested were found to be “unsatisfactory” for legionella.
Read the full story here.
Leading parliamentarian ‘shocked’ at EU commission’s migration approach
Juan Fernando López Aguilar, chair of the European parliament’s civil liberties committee, has criticised the European Commission’s response to the crisis in Lampedusa.
Speaking to the Guardian, the Spanish socialist said that it was “the right thing” for senior commission figures to travel to the island last weekend but that he was “puzzled and shocked” by statements made during the trip.
Ursula von der Leyen seemed to be “Melonised”, he said, in reference to the commission president and Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who made a joint appearance with her in Lampedusa on Sunday.
“The only way forward is long-term a strategy which is consistent not only with EU values, but also with EU law and international law – including international humanitarian law and maritime law when it comes to search and rescue,” the committee chair said.
López Aguilar was particularly critical of Von der Leyen’s decision in Lampedusa to refer to the EU’s controversial deal with Tunisia.
The memorandum of understanding, aimed at reducing migrant flows to Europe, was signed when Von der Leyen, Meloni and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, visited Tunisia in July. But parliamentarians and a number of EU governments have raised concerns about the deal.
“Whenever there is an agreement between the European Union and a third party, which is the case of Tunisia, there has to be a procedure, there has to be a mandate of the council, there has to be a legal standard, there has to be an involvement of the European parliament,” he said.
“Otherwise,” he added, “there is no legal basis.”
Lisa O’Carroll
What is the controversy over the EU migration deal with Tunisia?
The EU’s deal with Tunisia to combat people-smugglers moving migrants across to Italy in often life-threatening conditions has been mired in controversy since it was signed in July.
The journey from Tunisia to Italy has become the most popular route for people-smugglers operating in Africa.
The original EU deal on the table envisaged a wide-ranging economic and security package including €900m (£775m) in support of the country’s economy, €150m to develop a wider business partnership involving the development of renewable energy including solar and wind and the €105m to assist on stemming migration.
No money has been given to Tunisia yet but the EU over the weekend said it was accelerating operations and the refitting of 17 Tunisian ships was under way for search operations.
But deal is controversial: many have expressed concern over the decline of democracy after the Tunisian president, Kais Saied, partly suspended parliament in 2021 and sacked the prime minister.
He also refused entry to a group of MEPs who had wanted to visit the country to meet political counterparts and civil society representatives.
Read the full explainer here.
Angela Giuffrida
Giorgia Meloni, who initially depicted herself as the “underdog” who had fought against the odds to become Italy’s first female prime minister, has morphed into one of Europe’s most powerful politicians.
Ask many Italians what they think of her now, and gone are the references to her past links with neofascism or her vitriol towards immigrants, LGBTQ+ people or anyone else who challenged her self-declared Christian, patriotic vision of Italy.
“She has softened over time,” said Matilde Palazzo, a small business owner in Rome. “Yes, she is surrounded by some questionable characters but people have noticed something else – after years of useless governments they are seeing some stability. I even have leftwing customers who tell me: ‘All in all, I quite like her.’”
Still, as her popularity transcends the borders of her far-right base, Meloni’s apparent metamorphosis has not been clear-cut, leaving many struggling to decipher who she really is.
Meloni has struck a reassuring, pragmatic tone in the rest of Europe and beyond. She has been unwavering in her support for Ukraine, while positioning herself as an advocate of large deals in Africa, be it on energy or, more controversially, immigration.
The prime minister “plays the moderate but winks at those who are not moderate at all”, said Alessandra Laterza, the owner of Le Torri, a bookshop in Tor Bella Monaca, a deprived district on the outskirts of Rome.
Read the full story here:
Pope to visit Marseille in bid for a welcoming Mediterranean
Pope Francis will arrive in Marseille this afternoon, where he is set to reiterate a message of tolerance and welcome to refugees.
The religious leader is scheduled to hold an interfaith prayer at a monument dedicated to those who have died at sea, the AP reports.
The pope’s office said ahead of the trip that Francis will pray with members of organisations “dedicated to the pastoral care of seafarers, migrants, and refugees”.
On Saturday, he will meet with bishops and young people from North Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe, and also hold a private session with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Good morning and welcome back to the Guardian’s Europe live blog.
Today we will be looking into the latest news and debates around migration.
Eyes are now on Italy, where more than 127,000 people arrived so far this year – more than double the number over the same period last year.
Speaking at the United Nations general assembly this week, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said that the large number of arrivals on the island of Lampedusa had placed Italy “under incredible pressure” and that she would not allow the country to become “Europe’s refugee camp”.
Last weekend, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Lampedusa and unveiled a 10-point plan to help Italy cope – including by implementing a highly controversial deal with Tunisia.
And with elections scheduled in Slovakia, Poland and the Netherlands this fall – and European parliament elections coming up in June – many politicians are increasingly looking at migration from a campaign lens.
Send comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
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