{"id":115596,"date":"2023-07-24T07:45:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/fi\/news\/italy-hosts-med-migration-conference-to-extend-tunisia-deal\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T07:45:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T04:45:39","slug":"italy-hosts-med-migration-conference-to-extend-tunisia-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/news\/italy-hosts-med-migration-conference-to-extend-tunisia-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy hosts Med migration conference to extend Tunisia deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <p>You are unauthorized to view this page.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-login-form-wrap\">\n            \n<div class=\"mp_wrapper mp_login_form\">\n                  <!-- mp-login-form-start -->     <form name=\"mepr_loginform\" id=\"mepr_loginform\" class=\"mepr-form\" action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\" method=\"post\" data-trp-original-action=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/\">\n            <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_username\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n                              <label for=\"user_login\">Username<\/label>\n        <\/div>\n        <input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" value=\"\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_password\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n          <label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n          <div class=\"mp-hide-pw\">\n            <input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" value=\"\" \/>\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"button mp-hide-pw hide-if-no-js\" data-toggle=\"0\" aria-label=\"Show password\">\n              <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-visibility\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n            <\/button>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n            <div>\n        <label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n      <div class=\"submit\">\n        <input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button-primary mepr-share-button\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115596\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_process_login_form\" value=\"true\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_is_login_page\" value=\"false\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n    <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"trp-form-language\" value=\"en\"\/><\/form>\n    <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n    <div class=\"mepr-login-actions\">\n        <a\n          href=\"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/login-2\/?action=forgot_password\"\n          title=\"Click here to reset your password\"\n        >\n          Forgot Password        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n      \n    <!-- mp-login-form-end --> \n  <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\">\nItaly hosted numerous national leaders in Rome on Sunday, at a conference aimed at extending an EU-backed deal with Tunisia to curb the arrival of migrants to European shores. As presidents, premiers and ministers prepared to huddle for the talks, Pope Francis appealed to them to help the scores of people who try to enter Europe each year in search of a better life as they flee poverty and conflict. \u201cThe Mediterranean can no longer be the theatre of death and inhumanity\u201d, the pontiff said during his weekly Angelus prayer.<\/p>\n<p>Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni opened the talks shortly after 1100 GMT and was expected to hold a press conference after 1700 GMT, following the closed-door talks. Meloni said talks would focus on illegal and legal immigration, refugee support and \u201cthe most important\u2026 wide cooperation to support development in Africa\u201d. During the 2022 election campaign that brought her to power, the far-right Meloni vowed to \u201cstop the disembarkation\u201d of migrants in Italy, which the government puts at nearly 80,000 coastal arrivals since January, compared to 33,000 in the same period last year.<\/p>\n<p>But while the government has put obstacles in the path of humanitarian ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, it has failed to stop the departures themselves, which mostly originate in Tunisia and Libya. Italy and the European Commission have sought to step up engagement with Tunisia, promising funding if it stems emigration from its territory. Meloni has also sought to act as an intermediary between Tunisia \u2014 cash-strapped and on the cusp of a major debt crisis \u2014 and the International Monetary Fund, where a nearly $2 billion bailout package for the North African country has stalled amid an IMF demand for structural reforms.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the EU signed a memorandum of understanding with Tunisia that provides for 105 million euros ($117 million) in direct European aid to prevent the departure of migrant boats and combat smugglers. The deal also provides for more illegal Tunisians to be repatriated, and for sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia to be sent back to their countries of origin.\u00a0 A much larger EU package to Tunisia, a long-term loan of around 900 million euros proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in June, is conditional on approval of the IMF loan. \u201cThis partnership with Tunisia must be a model for building new relations with our North African neighbours\u201d, Meloni said last week during a visit to Tunis.<\/p>\n<p>A senior European diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that the EU is hoping for similar partnerships with Egypt and Morocco. \u201cWe must cooperate with the countries of North Africa, even if to do so we have to accept that they are not perfect democracies,\u201d a Rome-based ambassador told AFP. \u201cThere is unity in the EU on this principle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Attending the conference on Sunday were presidents of Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Mauritania, along with EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, plus Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency. Prime ministers from Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta and Niger were also present, and Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent ministers. Notably absent were representatives from France and Spain.<\/p>\n<p>Federica Infantino, researcher at the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute, said a new deal with Tunisia would change little. \u201cYou can\u2019t think of migration as the water that comes out of the tap, to be turned on and off as certain politicians see fit\u201d, Infantino said. But for Meloni\u2019s political needs, there are \u201cstrong symbolic stakes\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups and charities that rescue migrants attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing are furious about the deal. Human Rights Watch called it \u201ca new low in the European Union\u2019s efforts to curb migrants\u2019 arrivals at any cost\u201d that \u201cpays only lip service to human rights\u201d. \u201cIt shows that Europe has learned nothing from its complicity in the horrendous abuses of migrants in Libya\u201d, the group said Thursday.\u00a0 According to the UN, more than 100,000 migrants arrived by sea to Europe \u2014 most to Italy \u2014 in the first six months of 2023, from the coasts of North Africa, Turkey and Lebanon. There were just over 189,000 such arrivals last year. With fewer than 80,000 asylum applications registered last year, Italy lags behind Germany, France, Spain and Austria.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/world\/italy-hosts-med-migration-conference-to-extend-tunisia-deal\/article\">Digital Journal<\/a> <\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/csr-news-en\/italy-hosts-med-migration-conference-to-extend-tunisia-deal\/\">Italy hosts Med migration conference to extend Tunisia deal<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\">Vastuullisuusuutiset.fi<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1697,555,1552,10797,2309,3824],"class_list":["post-115596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-conference","tag-csr-news-en","tag-italy","tag-med","tag-migration","tag-tunisia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tietopankki.crnet.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}