A senior EPP official told EURACTIV that the trip was a personal initiative by Weber and that he was not accompanied by other EPP MEPs. Weber believes that the EU‘s neighbourhood policy in the South Mediterranean and North Africa has achieved little and needs an overhaul, EURACTIV understands. Pre-election positioningThe centre-right party is also seeking to position itself as being best placed to address irregular migration to Europe. “European citizens are concerned about migration and we want to differentiate ourselves from the far-right’s approach to this. However, Parliament officials say that there is a cross-party majority in favour of the agreement with Tunisia.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 31, 2023 22:31 UTC