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Italian PM Says EU Will Send Aid Package to Tunisia

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Tunisian PM (File photo: EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Tunisian PM (File photo: EPA)
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Italian PM Says EU Will Send Aid Package to Tunisia

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Tunisian PM (File photo: EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Tunisian PM (File photo: EPA)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday that the leaders of Italy, the Netherlands, and the European Commission would likely announce an EU aid package for Tunisia during an upcoming visit during the weekend.

Meloni, her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, and President of EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Tunisia Sunday to discuss removing obstacles hindering Tunisia's access to International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans.

She said that the expected EU aid package would pave the way for obtaining IMF funding.

"It seems to me that important steps forward are being taken," Meloni said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Rome with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Meloni said she was confident a deal could be reached between the IMF and Tunisia.

Meanwhile, the Tunisian Ministry of Defense announced Friday that four Tunisian soldiers died in a military helicopter crash into the sea on Wednesday.

The ministry said it had lost contact with the helicopter after it went missing while on a flight mission on Wednesday near Bizerte.

According to the Ministry, the units are still searching for the dead soldiers after they recovered two bodies and parts of the helicopter's wreckage.

Also, President Kais Saied discussed the incident with the Minister of Defense, Imed Memmiche.

The President called for the necessity of renewing the Tunisian military equipment, considering that such incidents, which can occur in any country, unfortunately, occur in Tunisia due to the erosion of the equipment, which led to and continues to lead to such tragedies.

In October 2021, three soldiers were killed when an army helicopter crashed during a night exercise in the southern province of Gabes.

A year early, a soldier was killed when his warplane crashed in the Remada region, in the far south of Tunisia. In 2018, two soldiers were killed when a training plane crashed in Sfax, east of Tunisia.

The most significant accident dates back to 2002, when a military helicopter carrying the military leaders crashed, killing 13 Tunisian soldiers in the Medjez el-Bab area.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.