The trilateral agreement with von der Leyen and the Dutch premier Rutte
That of migratory flows is an issue on which the Tunisian president has proposed a high-level conference between the countries concerned, between North Africa, the Sahel, the Sahara and the Mediterranean. Since March, the Italian government has denounced Tunisia’s alarm with the fear of a humanitarian catastrophe, with 900,000 potential refugees. “The next EU Council”, at the end of June, “must act immediately”, Meloni hoped at the G7: in Japan he spoke about it with the French president Emmanuel Macron, with Kristalina Georgieva, director general of the IMF, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. A few days later, at the summit of the European Political Community, he also had a trilateral agreement with von der Leyen herself and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who has a line similar to Meloni’s on the migrant dossier, and did not rule out the possibility of a trip together to Africa. Thus was born this Italian mission (known to all EU chancelleries), a new African stage after Algeria and Libya.
The Mattei plan
A path also linked to the Mattei Plan, which will be presented in October. The management of the Tunisia dossier can become emblematic. The IMF continues to block the financing of about 2 billion dollars (approved in October) due to the scarce guarantees offered by Saied both in terms of reforms and respect for democratic rules.
Meloni’s pragmatic politics
«But are we sure that this rigidity is the best way? If this government goes home, do we know what the alternatives might be? I believe that the approach must be pragmatic, because otherwise we risk worsening situations that are already compromised», Meloni said at the G7. From Tunis came the applause of Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar who defined the Italian position “intelligent and constructive”. The Italian hope is that a reassuring signal will arrive from Tunis on the desire for a balanced agreement. And it is with these assumptions that Meloni will meet Saied
The role of President Saied
Saied is at the head of the only country to emerge from the Arab spring with a democracy, but increasingly fragile. He responded with a hard face to those chancelleries that criticized the arrest of the historic leader of the Tunisian Islamic party, Ennhadha Rached. The issue of civil rights is no stranger to the tensions that have held back IMF funding. In Tunisia, Patrick Zaki tells Repubblica, “a worrying drift towards dictatorship is evident”.
The match played by Berlin
But the role that Germany wants to play will also be decisive on the Tunisian affair. Giorgia Meloni will receive the German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Rome next week. The meeting will clarify. Encouraging signals have come from Berlin in recent months, in particular on the need to intensify efforts, including financial ones, towards countries that are at the center of the migration emergency, including obviously Tunisia but also Libya.