Speeches

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the EU-Tunisia agreement signed last July by Presidents Vor der Leyen and Saied is an important step in this direction. It is the result of intense European diplomatic work, and Italian in particular, and can represent, as our Premier Meloni said, a model on which to build new relations with the neighbors of North Africa. A pragmatic, non-paternalistic approach, which offers renewed cooperation and in return asks the Tunisian authorities for maximum commitment to crush human traffickers and destroy their business, the only way to stop the continuous massacre of the Mediterranean. The agreement is bearing fruit: Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants were stopped on the Tunisian coast before leaving for Italy. Yet, the numbers of landings are still too high and more needs to be done, starting to disburse the sums agreed in the memorandum and giving it full implementation. Those on the left who criticise this cooperation agreement, just as yesterday they criticised the security measures taken by the states that guard the external borders of the EU, once again show that they have no solution to the migration problem, except for the usual failed rhetoric of open doors.