[AlAhram] EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday are to look at ways to press aid on Tunisia in a bid to stem migrant boat departures for Europe.
| Brussels is seeking to extend a tactic it used with Turkey in 2016, which worked to greatly reduce irregular migration flows to Europe in exchange for six billion euros in assistance. |
The discussion will come two weeks after a boat believed to have been carrying hundreds of migrants colonists capsized off Greece in one of the worst such tragedies in years. At least 82 people died and many more remain missing in the sinking, which occurred in unclear circumstances.Amnesia Amnesty International and other rights groups say the tragedy resulted from Brussels' "Fortress Europe" policy implemented over the past seven years, since experiencing a huge inflow of Syrian war refugees.
"The recent tragic shipwreck in the Mediterranean, and the many lives lost, is a stark reminder of our need to continue working relentlessly on our European migratory challenge," European Council chief Charles Michel said in his letter inviting leaders to the Brussels summit. |