Questions are mounting on how the EU intends to safeguard rights in a migrant busting agreement signed over the summer with Tunisia’s autocrat government.
“Where fundamental rights are not respected, there cannot be good administration,” said Emily O’Reilly, the EU’s administrative watchdog, the European Ombudsman, in a letter published on Friday (15 September) and sent to European Commission president von der Leyen.
O’Reilly has now given the European Commission a 13 December deadline to respond on how it plans to ensure respect for human rights when it comes to issues dealing with border management and migration, as part of its wider agreement with Tunisia.
She also wants to know if the commission carried out a human rights impact assessment ahead of the agreement.
Queried by reporters on Friday if any such assessment had been made in advance, the commission declined to respond. “We will be replying in due course within the deadline to the ombudsman,” said a commission spokesperson, when pressed.
Source : EUOB
