Prof. CASSARINO was interviewed by Al-Jazeera on Italy's repatriation of Tunisian nationals

On 15 April 2021, Professor Jean-Pierre CASSARINO, Senior Research Fellow at the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair, was interviewed by Al-Jazeera on Italy's decision to speed up the repatriation of foreign nationals to Tunisia.

Professor CASSARINO argues in the article that despite the EU’s asylum policy, which states that access to the asylum procedure must be granted without discrimination, Italian authorities are effectively denying certain groups of people the right to even apply for asylum "by shrinking the time and space in which these legal rights can be accessed". "Space" is shrunk by denying the possibility to start an asylum procedure on quarantine boats, while the "time" in which repatriation takes place is hastened once migrants disembark, leaving little opportunity to file a request and appeal a repatriation order.

The interview was conducted by Al-Jazeera journalists Layli FOROUDI and Federica MARSI. You can find the full article here.