Facts

• Tunisia has denied entry to a group of members of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, who were due to start an official visit to the North African country on Thursday.
• The five-member delegation led by Germany's Michael Gahler was set to meet with civil society organizations, trade unions, and opposition figures but failed to secure engagements with Tunisian officials.
• The two-day visit was expected to assess developments since the committee's previous fact-finding mission to the country in April 2022, when concerns over Tunisia's democratic standards and human rights were expressed.
• Tunisia reportedly didn't provide reasons for the refused entry, which Gahler described as "unprecedented since the 2011 Tunisian Revolution."
• The controversial decision comes shortly after some European parliament lawmakers criticized a migration deal Brussels struck with Tunisia in July, which would allow the latter to receive millions of dollars in financial support for stemming the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
• Meanwhile, on Friday, the EU administrative watchdog gave the European Commission a three-month deadline to explain how it plans to safeguard human rights in the migrant busting deal with Tunisia.