EU wants “strong and clear action” from Tunisia on illegal migrants (VIDEO)
A boat carring Tunisian migrants enters the port of Lampedusa on April 12, 2011. Around 26,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, including around 21,000 who said they were from Tunisia, claiming they were fleeing a grim economic situation after the political revolution in January.
The European Union has said Tunisia must do more to prevent migrants entering Europe illegally — many of whom they consider economic migrants and not asylum seekers — and take back its citizens who have done so.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU wanted "strong and clear action" from Tunis in return for the 140 million euros ($202 million) in extra aid it was considering for 2011-2013, on top of the existing budget of 257 million euros, Reuters reported.
About 25,000 North Africans are thought to have fled the unrest in the region, the BBC reports. Italy, where most of the migrants have ended up — 25,000 of them on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa since the start of the year — has complained that other EU states are not helping bear the burden.
The ouster of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January saw a loosening of border controls.
Italy said last week that it would issue tens of thousands of migrants, most of whom crossed the Mediterranean on fishing boats, with temporary visas that enable them to travel around much of Europe, on the basis that the vast majority of them wanted to join relatives or friends elsewhere in the EU.
Roberto Maroni, Italian Immigration Minister, said: “We will give temporary visas for humanitarian protection to those people who are in Italy, not everyone, but those who fulfill certain conditions, which will allow them to move around the Schengen member countries.”
European Commission spokesman Martin Grabiec said in response that migrants would only be allowed to travel within the Schengen area for up to three months if they had valid travel documents, sufficient money to live on and posed no threat to public security. “Having a Schengen visa doesn’t necessarily mean someone has the automatic right to move around within the Schengen zone. People from other countries must fulfill certain conditions,” he said, DPA reported.
On Tuesday, Barroso told reporters after meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi that, "Migration should be seen as a common challenge, a shared responsibility. We await strong and clear action from Tunisia, for it to accept the readmission of its migrants who find themselves in an irregular situation in Europe, as well as in the fight against illegal migration."
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!