Tunisia meanwhile is battling high unemployment and political instability, pushing more so-called economic migrants to cross to Italy. Migrant arrivals to Italy rose by nearly 150 percent over the past year, with the majority coming by boat from Tunisia, Italy’s interior ministry said on Saturday. Italy’s Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese joined Di Maio along with the European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson. Despite the sharp rise, the number of migrant arrivals is till far below numbers recorded in recent years. From 2016 to 2017, Italy recorded 182,877 migrant arrivals.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 17, 2020 20:03 UTC