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The EU is preparing a 7.4 billion euro aid package for Egypt aimed at supporting its economy, amid fears that conflicts in Gaza and Sudan risk exacerbating financial problems in the North African nation and increasing immigration pressure on Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Cairo on Sunday with the Greek, Italian and Belgian prime ministers to finalize and announce the deal.
The proposed deal is the latest in a series of EU pacts with North African countries aimed at avoiding economic instability in Europe’s neighbors and stopping irregular migration from Africa.
It follows other deals with Tunisia and Mauritania that promised money and other incentives in exchange for better policing of the countries’ borders, despite concerns from politicians and NGOs about human rights and the effectiveness of such deals.
The agreement concludes months of negotiations that accelerated following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants and the subsequent war, amid fears of potential refugee movements from Gaza. But Egyptian authorities have kept the border with the enclave sealed and have repeatedly rejected the idea that Israel would try to displace large numbers of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents in the Sinai Peninsula.
The agreement includes support for Egypt’s energy sector and assistance to deal with the growing number of Sudanese refugees in the country. It also pledges to help fortify Egypt’s border with Libya, from where people cross the Mediterranean en route to Europe, according to several EU officials briefed on the matter.
The planned package includes 7.4 billion euros in grants and loans until the end of 2027.
Around €1 billion in emergency financial assistance could be paid out immediately. Another 4 billion euros of macro-financial assistance, linked to reforms under an expanded IMF program under discussion, is expected to be approved by EU member states.
The rest of the package will come from various EU funding streams, officials said.
An official involved in the preparations said the agreement was “substantive but strategically important”, adding: “We are concerned about two borders: the border between Sudan and Egypt, where the Sudanese are entering the country, and the border between Egypt and Libya , where people are hanging out.”
Greek Immigration Minister Dimitris Kairidis told the FT that Egypt played a “key and very critical role” in managing irregular immigration to Europe. “We have no direct flows from Egypt,” Kairidis told the FT. But he added: “There are Egyptians crossing into eastern Libya.”
According to him, it is essential to offer Egypt, which is facing “a serious economic crisis and a serious refugee crisis”, immediate support.
Last year, the International Organization for Migration recorded around 286,000 irregular migrant arrivals in the EU via various land and sea routes.
Egypt hosts around 480,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers, most of whom have fled Sudan’s civil war that erupted in April 2023, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
A second EU official briefed on the discussion said the deal would likely reorganize some existing EU support programs for Egypt, which has long been an important partner for the bloc.
Agreements with third countries have become a key policy tool of the EU as it seeks to manage migration despite accusations that the outsourcing of border management indirectly supports violations of international law and human rights.
Egypt has a patchy human rights record and the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in a military coup in 2013, has cracked down on dissent. Last year, 26,500 Egyptians applied for asylum in the EU, up from 15,400 in 2022, according to the European Asylum Agency.
The European Commission and other politicians have defended the agreements as a viable tool to manage immigration, given the increase in arrivals to the bloc.
“We can talk about the human rights situation in Egypt as much as you want,” Kairidis said. “But I also have this real situation.”