Giorgia Meloni had brought the issue to the last European Council, obtaining the maximum attention from the other countries, France and Germany in the lead
Today’s lightning trip of the premier has many meanings Giorgia Meloni in Tunisia, a country in disarray and grappling with a devastating economic crisis. Meloni’s first objective is clearly to avert the country’s default, which could only be averted by a loan from 1.9 billion frozen by the IMFdue to the lack of collaboration on the front of the reforms necessary for the country to recover from Kais Saied, the authoritarian Tunisian premier.
Giorgia Meloni had brought the matter to the last minute European Council, getting the maximum attention from other countries, France and Germany in the lead. The fear of our prime minister, which is also that of Europe, is that the precipitation of the economic crisis could generate a real exodus from that country towards our shores, as has already partially been happening in recent months. A visit that has been defined as “crucial” by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, which closely concerns Italy and Europe already grappling with an exponentially growing migration crisis. According to unofficial UN data, 25,000 of those who reached Italy this year (nearly half of the total) set sail from Tunisia, up from 1,300 in the same period in 2022, a reversal from the previous pattern whereby Libya was the main stepping stone for migrants.
But beyond this primary objective of this flash visit, which demonstrates the prime minister’s activism and commitment on the African front, this mission also tends to strengthen our role in the Maghreb, which has long been left in “thousand” of Russians, Chinese and Turks. Recent trips to Libya and Algeria demonstrate this and this is also one of the probable reasons for the clash with Macron and France, which seems to have lost influence and power over the area for some time. Finally the Tunisia may well represent a first real and natural test for that famous Mattei plan that the prime minister would like to implement in Africa, with the approval of Olaf Scholz’s Germany.
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