EU chief executive Ursula von der Leyen is heading to Tunisia on Sunday in a bid to unblock a stalled deal with the country to limit migrant departures.
Von der Leyen will join Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, on the trip, as the EU has been trying to finalize an agreement with Tunisia since June.
“We hope to wrap up the discussions we kicked off in June,” the European Commission’s deputy spokesperson Dana Spinant said at a daily media briefing on Friday.
In June, Von der Leyen affirmed that the EU is ready to provide Tunisia with over €1 billion in different areas, including trade, investment, and energy cooperation.
But negotiations have since slowed, with diplomats failing to strike a deal before a late June EU leaders’ summit as they had hoped.
The Commission also promised €105 million in border management aid that is not tied to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan approval. However, President Kais Saied stressed in June that his country would not accept becoming a border guard for other countries.
