Tunisia sends €60m back to the EU in migration row

Tunisia has sent back €60 million ($63 million) to the EU, which was intended to help curb migrant crossings over the Mediterranean, and has accused the bloc of treating it like a vassal, The Times reported on Thursday

Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar said the cash was wired back on Oct. 9, six days after it had been received, and added that his country’s national sovereignty was a source of “dignity and strength.”

He added: “We have not started wars and we have not plunged humanity into world wars, as you have done.”

His comments followed those made earlier this month by Tunisian President Kais Saied, who said that “the treasures of the whole world are not worth a single iota of our sovereignty.”

The move puts a significant dent in an initiative launched by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to pay Tunisia €105 million and lend it €900 million to stop migrants sailing to the Italian island of Lampedusa, The Times reported.

The EU said in September that it would send an initial €67 million to combat illegal migration and €60 million in budget support, which Saied dismissed as “charity.”

After the €60 million was sent, Oliver Varhelyi, EU’s neighborhood commissioner, published a letter written in August by Tunisia’s economics minister urging the EU to send the money.

Varhelyi said that if Tunisia no longer wanted the funds “it was welcome to wire it back.”

Ammar claimed that the €60 million was previously agreed post-pandemic funding disguised as additional aid, and accused the EU of “deception.”

A European Commission spokesperson told The Times that the return of the funds would have no impact on the EU’s planned engagement with Tunisia over combating illegal migration.