On September 12, on the eve of the State of the Union address at the European Parliament by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, one of the pillars of the bloc's recent migration policy came under heavy criticism.

In the plenary session debate, a contentious Memorandum of Understanding signed with Tunisia in July was attacked for several different reasons by Socialists, the left, the Greens, and far right parties.

Polemics from opposite political sides

The session was not followed by a vote and possibly this served to keep the MoU alive. Defending it in a compact manner was only the centre-right European People's Party (EPP).

EPP chief Manfred Weber said that the party is trying to make negotiations possible in the line of what former German chancellor Angela Merkel did with Turkey in a previous migration agreement.

This was the first time that discussion was held on the MoU in Strasbourg against a backdrop marked on one side by lines of boats waiting to disembark the people saved at sea on Lampedusa and photos of Tunisia's Sfax once again filled with migrants.

Socialists & Democrats' group head Iratze Garcia Perez said during a press conference that EU taxpayers' money should not be given to governments that threaten human rights.

In the parliament itself, the Greens officially asked the European Commission to put an end to an agreement that puts European values "up for sale".

Italian Democratic Party delegation chief Brando Benifei underscored that the agreement is worrisome both in "form and substance," citing statements made by Tunisian president Kais Saied against migrants.

The agreement with Saied also has gained adversaries in the far-right section of the European Parliament. Annalisa Tardino, from Italy's League party, scoffed at the MoU's actual effect, saying that in the meanwhile an "invasion" was arriving in Europe from Tunisia.

Von der Leyen calls for similar accords with others

Disagreements were also seen in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group led by one of the protagonists of the agreement, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

Assita Kanko - a Belgian journalist, human rights activist and politician born in Burkina Faso - from the ECR group wrote in French on the X social media site that the "EU-Tunisia deal is dancing with the devil and paying him for it. Nobody is impressed. The only effect is the explosive influx via Tunisia and the red cheeks of the EU."

Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said that collaboration was necessary and that in 2023 alone 50,000 people had been saved by the Coast Gurad compared with 34,000 the previous year. He also noted that the EU would be strengthening its border control capacity.

On September 13 in her State of the Union address at the European Parliament, Von der Leyen noted on the agreement with Saied that the bloc had signed a partnership agreement with Tunisia that entails mutual benefits beyond the migration sector - such as in the energy, education, skills, and security fields - and that now it would like to work on similar agreements with other countries.