Promised, sworn, Giorgia Meloni had changed, she said. This October 25, 2022, the President of the Italian Council, at the head of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, speaks before Parliament for her first general policy speech: “I have never had any sympathy or proximity to anti-democratic regimes,” she says in her gravelly voice. Forgotten his youth commitments within the Italian Social Movement, heir to Mussolini’s National Fascist Party: the new head of government wants to make those who saw in her the advent of an “illiberal” regime lie. No question, assures Meloni, of supporting such a drift in Italy. Elsewhere, however, it’s a different story. Not far from La Botte, Tunisia is sinking into authoritarianism coupled with uninhibited racism… with the blessing of Rome.
A “fascinating” dynamic
President Kaïs Saïed, who granted himself full powers on July 25, 2021 and imprisons the slightest dissenting voice, has a new enemy in his sights: the sub-Saharan populations. February 21: in the middle of the National Security Council, he calls for urgent measures against the arrival of “hordes of illegal immigrants” – they would in reality be 60,000 out of 12 million inhabitants. Immediately, dozens of black people were targeted by citizens in Tunis and Sfax. Racism checks, attacks, eviction from their homes… “This phenomenon testifies to a fascistic dynamic, underlines Michaël Ayari, of the International Crisis Group: the population begins to help the State apparatus to “martialise” society and maintain order.” The African Union condemns these manhunts; Côte d’Ivoire urgently repatriates 500 nationals.
The moment chosen by the president to drop this bomb questions. For months, the small Tunisian National Party, adept at shocking videos and fake news denouncing “sub-Saharan colonization”, campaigned in the country. Did he influence Saïed? Or do we owe this exit to diplomatic exchanges with Rome? In mid-January, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was invited to the presidential palace in Carthage. He welcomes “a common commitment against illegal immigration”, promises reinforced economic exchanges and more visas for Tunisians… provided that Kaïs Saïed stems illegal immigration. A month later, several NGOs report the arbitrary arrests of more than 300 migrants. On February 21, Antonio Tajani reiterates to his counterpart his support for international donors. “The same day, Kaïs Saïed utters his racist remarks, transforming the theories of the extreme right into state doctrine”, deplores Mahdi Elleuch, researcher at the NGO The Legal Agenda in Tunis.
Saïed, Meloni, united against the “great replacement”
“The Tunisian president responds indirectly to the dream of Meloni, a supporter of zero tolerance of illegal immigration, notes Vincent Geisser, researcher at the CNRS. The two leaders share the same analysis of the migratory phenomenon as a cultural threat to the identity of their country.” The parallel between their rhetoric is, moreover, striking. Kaïs Saïed speaks of a “criminal enterprise hatched at the dawn of this century to change the demographic composition of Tunisia”; Giorgia Meloni denounced in 2016 “the ethnic replacement in progress in Italy”. “Both have an interest in targeting migrants, continues Vincent Geisser: Meloni to flatter his electorate, Saïed to point out the culprits for the economic crisis which is beating Tunisia, where inflation exceeds 10%. On the verge of bankruptcy, the country hopes to obtain a loan of 1.8 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund. Italy, which fears a wave of migration in the event of Tunisian bankruptcy, is the No. 1 European mediator on this file.
On March 1, the President of the Italian Council did not fail to call her counterpart, Prime Minister Najla Bouden, to “express her closeness to the people and the Tunisian authorities” and reassure the government in passing: Rome will continue to support it financially. Kaïs Saïed now knows he can count on a faithful ally. As for the other European states, they observe this return to dictatorship without saying a word…