EU-Egypt “strategic” partnership for 7.4 billion euros

Photo transmitted by the Egyptian Presidency showing Egyptian President Abdel Abdel Fattah al-Sissi (R) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on March 17, 2024 in Cairo

The European Union (EU) signed a “strategic partnership” for 7.4 billion euros with Egypt on Sunday, in the midst of an economic crisis, particularly in the areas of energy and migration, causing concern among human rights defenders.

This agreement was signed at the end of the day in Cairo between the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, alongside five European heads of state and governments.

It includes “five billion euros in loans including one billion paid before the end of 2024, 1.8 billion in investments, 400 million in aid for bilateral projects and 200 million in aid for programs dealing with migration issues », Detailed a senior European Commission official on condition of anonymity.

With this agreement, “we are raising the relationship between the European Union and Egypt to the status of a global strategic partnership,” welcomed Ms. von der Leyen, “ranging from trade to low-carbon energy through migration management” .

It adds to the latest financial boosts received by Cairo: 35 billion dollars injected by the United Arab Emirates, and an extension of five billion dollars in additional loans from the International Monetary Fund.

Cairo devotes a good part of its resources to repaying its external debt, which has tripled in a decade to reach nearly 165 billion dollars.

– Natural gas and difficult region –

Egypt is banking in particular on its natural gas to obtain income in foreign currencies, and the EU wants to “cooperate” in particular to do without “even more Russian gas”, affirmed the senior European official, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine .

Included in the European delegation in Egypt are the Cypriot President, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Greek Prime Ministers Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Italian Giorgia Meloni, major partners of Egypt in its gas fields in the Mediterranean.

Also present were the Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, and the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo.

All these leaders also spoke in Cairo about border conflicts: in Sudan, Libya and Gaza where Israel – at war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas – increased the pressure on Cairo by ensuring progress on its plans. invasion of Rafah, at the gates of Egypt, where more than 1.5 million Palestinians, displaced by war, are crowded together.

“Egypt is a crucial country for Europe” because it has “an important position in a very difficult region,” the senior European official explained to journalists in Cairo.

The EU wants to cooperate with Egypt – 136th country out of 142 in the World Justice Project’s rule of law rankings – in “security, counter-terrorism and border protection”.

The migration aspect of the agreement is of the same type as that signed in July with Tunisia: the Europeans expect the countries of origin or transit of migrants to stop departures and to readmit their nationals in an irregular situation in the EU.

– “Restriction of freedom” –

For the NGO Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE), the EU wants to “subcontract to North African countries, in particular Egypt (…) the restriction of the freedom of movement of migrants”.

“The pattern is the same as that of the EU’s shaky agreements with Tunisia and Mauritania: stop migrants, ignore abuses,” warns Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The NGO claims to have “already recorded arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment inflicted by the Egyptian authorities on migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as expulsions” to countries plagued by violence.

Three months before the elections to the European Parliament where polls predict a surge of the far right, European leaders are keen to display their firmness on irregular immigration.

“We must be partners to eliminate illegal migration” in particular by “creating prospects and jobs for young people,” declared Belgian Prime Minister, whose country currently holds the European presidency, alongside European and Egyptian officials.

Egypt repeats that since 2016 no migrant boats have left its coasts. Although boats no longer leave Egypt, Egyptians still arrive in Europe by sea, leaving for the majority from Libya or Tunisia to Italy.

Frontex, the European Border Agency, has recorded in 2023 nearly 158,000 migrant arrivals in Europe via this route, the most dangerous in the world. An increase of 50% compared to 2022.

LNT with Afp