Italy warned on Friday that Europe risks a huge wave of North African migrants reaching its shores unless financial stability in Tunisia is ensured.

Rescue talks between Tunisia and the International Monetary Fund have been stalled for months.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in Brussels, the Belgian capital, where she attended a European summit today, “perhaps not everyone understands the need to maintain financial stability in Tunisia.”

“If we don’t address these issues properly, we will face an unprecedented wave of migration,” Maloney told reporters after a summit of EU leaders in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

For his part, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told the Italian Radio and Television Corporation (RAI) on Friday that Europe could witness the arrival of “tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands” of migrants by boat if there was no help. economical. It will soon be delivered to Tunisia.

Taian added that he proposed to EU foreign ministers on Monday that aid funds for Tunisia be divided into tranches, with the first tranche released immediately.

Today, Friday, the office of the European economic commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, announced that Gentiloni will travel to Tunis on March 27 to meet with Tunisian officials and discuss the reforms planned by the government.

The statement said the commission could consider providing financial assistance “if preconditions are met”.

More than 20,000 migrants arrived in Italy by boat in 2023, threatening to break the record set in 2016 when 181,436 people arrived in the country, most in primitive boats.

At least 12,000 of those arriving in Italy this year have come from Tunisia, up from 1,300 in the same period in 2022, according to the United Nations.