On 16 July 2023, the Commission and the Tunisian authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a comprehensive ("strategic and global") partnership package between the EU and Tunisia (MoU), which includes a section on "Migration and mobility". Based on the MoU, the EU committed to providing additional funding to Tunisia for training and technical support for border management to combat anti-smuggling operations and reinforce border control. 

Concerns have been raised about the MoU in general and support for border control initiatives in particular, notably in light of reports about the human rights situation in Tunisia. Following correspondence between the Commission and the Ombudsman, the latter opened an own-initiative inquiry.

On 21 October 2024, the Ombudsman concluded its assessment with the following conclusions. She noted that the European Commission had conducted a risk management exercise before the MoU was signed and will be able to produce periodic assessments of the human rights impact of actions under the MoU. However, the ombudsman urged the Commission to:

• publish on its website a summary of the risk management exercise it conducted for Tunisia;
• regularly update and make public information on the outcome of the human rights monitoring;
• set out the criteria on which the suspension of contracts due to violations of human rights in the implementation of EU-funded projects in Tunisia would be based;
• encourage its implementing partners to set up complaint mechanisms for individuals to report alleged violations of their human rights.

For further details, please read the decision of the European Ombudsman of 21 October 2024.