Italy’s plan to deploy security personnel in Tunisia sparks sovereignty debate

Italy’s parliamentary approval to deploy 22 security personnel to Tunisia as part of a maritime support and training mission has triggered a debate over sovereignty and foreign security presence in the North African country.

Italy’s Chamber of Deputies approved in early June the government’s plan to send about 22 members of the Guardia di Finanza, one of the country’s law enforcement agencies, along with land equipment and vehicles, to Tunisia as part of the mission.

Former Tunisian lawmaker Majdi Karbai, who lives in Italy, said the Italian decision should be seen within a broader effort to reshape border management tools on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

“The matter is no longer just technical bilateral cooperation, but a clear expansion of a European security logic inside Tunisia’s sovereign space,” Karbai told Anadolu.

According to the official document presented to the Italian parliament, the mission aims to provide assistance, support, qualification and training to Tunisia’s maritime guard.

The mission focuses on strengthening Tunisia’s capacity to manage and monitor maritime borders and combat irregular migration.

– SENSITIVE MATTER

Tunisia has faced growing European pressure to exercise more control over its shores and prevent boats carrying irregular migrants from departing.

While observers have called for greater transparency over the agreement between Tunisia and Italy, they have rejected the deployment of foreign forces in the country, amid official Tunisian silence over the Italian parliament’s decision.

“It must be recalled that any foreign security presence on national territory, even if it takes place within the framework of cooperation agreements, remains a sensitive matter linked to sovereignty and the principle of democratic oversight,” lawmaker Karbai said.

“These arrangements are concluded in the form of memoranda of understanding or executive cooperation that are not always subject to parliamentary debate or sufficient transparency before public opinion, which creates a political and institutional vacuum around the nature of these missions and their actual limits,” he added.