Tunisia, in response to EU offer, affirms that it accepts cooperation but not charity

Tunisia (ST) –Tunisian President Kais Saied affirmed that, with regard to the European Union’s offer to support Tunisia’s budget in exchange for its response to cases of illegal immigration, Tunisia accepts the support of others if it is within the framework of cooperation, and not sympathy or charity.

President Saied stated during his meeting with the Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar: “Our country and people do not want sympathy and do not accept it if it is without respect. Accordingly, Tunisia rejects what the EU announced in the past few days because the proposal contradicts with the memorandum of understanding signed in July.”

“Tunisia was never the cause of misery that most African peoples are experiencing, the peoples that have suffered from the current global system, like many of the countries from which these waves of migration flow”, Saied stressed, saying “we do not want to be a victim again of a global system in which justice does not prevail and human beings are not respected.”

He noted that the whole world is witnessing major transformations and that Tunisia, which adheres to the principles of non-alignment, must be an active partner, whose voice is heard and whose positions are firm in creating a new history for humanity.

The EU announced that it would provide aid to Tunisia in exchange for confronting the waves of migration coming from African countries, and sending observers to follow up on this, which Tunisia rejected.

Najla Khoury