Italy, UK agree to co-finance migrant repatriation plan

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) – Italy and the UK have agreed to jointly finance a repatriation project for migrants stuck in the north African nation of Tunisia, the Italian premier’s office said Saturday.

The two leaders agreed “to co-finance the first Italo-British project of voluntary repatriation assisted by the International Organization for Migration in the countries of origin for migrants blocked in Tunisia,” said Giorgia Meloni’s office in a statement.

If migrants stuck in Tunisia can be repatriated, that lessens the chance thy might proceed to Spain, or even, ultimately, Great Britain itself.

The deal was unveiled after a meeting in Rome between the Italian premier and her UK counterpart Rishi Sunak, who is there to take part at a political festival organized by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.

The pair also met with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

“After agreeing on the need to tackle in a more structured way illegal migration towards Europe, the leaders agreed to further intensify the collaboration among the three countries to combat human traffickers,” her office said.

The three heads of government also convened on the need to reach a “definitive stabilization” of the Balkans, also on the basis of the improvements achieved during the process of enlargement of the European Union towards those countries.