EU leaders presses Tunisia in bid to stem Med migrant flow
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sysAdmin
- . June 30, 2023
- . Update: June 30, 2023 9:04 pm
The leaders from the European Union (EU), a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states in Europe, are set to meet in Brussels, the Capital of Belgium, to discuss ways to press aid on Tunisia in a bid to stem migrant boat departures for Europe.
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This discussion will come two weeks after a boat with hundreds of migrants capsized off the Greek coast. At least 82 people died because of one of the worst migrant tragedies recorded in the European Union.
According to Greek authorities, as many as hundred people have been rescued, including Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Egyptians, and Palestinians. However, some people are still missing. The survivors of the tragic incident and the United Nations (UN) have reported that hundreds of people were on the boat and they continue to be missing. Survivors claimed that they might be dead.
Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, invited leaders to the Brussels summit. He wrote in a letter, “The recent tragic shipwreck in the Mediterranean, and the many lives lost, is a stark reminder of our need to continue working relentlessly on our European migratory challenge. We will review the migratory situation.”
Amnesty International and other rights groups denounced the tragic incident. They claimed that the incident was a direct result of the “Fortress Europe” policy, which was implemented over the past seven years.
Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency of the European Union, has claimed that boat crossings across the central Mediterranean led to irregular migrant entries to Europe. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency said that crossings leaving Tunisia and going to Italy and Malta increased rapidly between January and May 2023, compared with the same period last year.
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Recently, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed the importance of resolving financial problems in Tunisia.
