The European Union announced a 7.4 billion euro ($8 billion) aid package for cash-strapped Egypt on Sunday, as concerns grow that economic pressure and conflicts in neighboring countries could push more migrants towards the European coasts.
The deal, which has drawn criticism from rights groups over the human rights situation in Egypt, is expected to be signed on Sunday during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus and Greece, according to Egyptian officials.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met separately with von der Leyen and other European leaders ahead of the signing ceremony on Sunday afternoon.
The aid package includes both grants and loans for the next three years for the Arab world’s most populous country, according to the EU mission in Cairo. According to a document from the EU mission in Egypt, the majority of the funds – 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) – constitute macro-financial assistance.
The mission said the two sides have promoted their cooperation to the level of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership,” paving the way for the expansion of Egypt-EU cooperation in various economic and non-economic areas.
El-Sissi’s office said in a statement that the agreement aims to achieve “a significant step in cooperation and coordination between the two sides and to achieve common interests.”
The EU will provide assistance to the Egyptian government to fortify its borders, in particular with Libya, a major transit point for migrants fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East. The 27-nation bloc will also support the government in hosting Sudanese who have fled nearly a year of fighting between rival generals in their country. Egypt has welcomed more than 460,000 Sudanese since April last year.
The deal comes amid growing concerns that Israel’s looming ground offensive against Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, could force hundreds of thousands of people into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The war between Israel and Hamas, now in its sixth month, has pushed more than 1 million people into Rafah.
Egypt says there are 9 million migrants, of which around 480,000 are refugees and asylum seekers registered with the United Nations refugee agency. Many of these migrants have started their own businesses, while others work in the huge informal economy as street vendors and cleaners.
For decades, Egypt has been a refuge for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa seeking to escape war or poverty. Egypt is a destination and a refuge for some, because it is the closest and easiest country to reach. For others it is a transit point before attempting the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean to Europe.
While the Egyptian coast has not been a major launching pad for traffickers and human traffickers sending overcrowded boats across the Mediterranean to Europe, Egypt faces migratory pressures from the region, with the added threat It is looming that the war between Israel and Hamas will spread beyond its borders. .
The deal would inject much-needed funds into the Egyptian economy which has been hit hard by years of government austerity, the coronavirus pandemic, the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, most recently, war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Egypt reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund earlier this month to increase its bailout loan to $8 billion, up from $3 billion, after a marathon of negotiations. The deal with the IMF was combined with economic reforms that included the listing of the Egyptian pound and a sharp increase in the main interest rate.
The EU agreement follows the model of those recently signed with Tunisia and Mauritania which promised funds in exchange for strengthening their borders. Both Tunisia and Mauritania were key departure points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean and a stretch of the Atlantic to Italy and Spain, respectively, and they too have been criticized for alleged abuses against migrants.
The package has drawn criticism from international rights groups over the human rights situation in Egypt. Amnesty International has urged European leaders not to be complicit in the human rights violations taking place in Egypt.
“EU leaders must ensure that the Egyptian authorities adopt clear human rights benchmarks,” said Eve Geddie, head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions office. Geddie highlighted Egypt’s restrictions on media and freedom of expression and repression of civil society.
Asked about the morality of such agreements earlier this week in Brussels, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer acknowledged that there were problems in all of these countries, but still defended the partnerships.
“Yes, we know the human rights criticism in those countries and it is obvious that this is a problem,” he told reporters.
“Does this mean we should break off all relationships? Would this lead to an improvement in the situation? Or should we try to find a way to work with those countries to improve the situation on the ground for both local populations and migrants arriving in those countries?” He said.