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19-03-2024
BRUSSELS/ CAIRO: The European Union has announced a 7.4 billion-euro ($8.06bn) aid package and an upgraded relationship with Egypt, part of a new deal to stem migrant flows to Europe that has been criticized by rights groups.
The deal is scheduled to be signed during a visit on Sunday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus and Greece, according to officials.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met separately with von der Leyen and other European leaders before the signing ceremony.
The aid package includes both grants and loans over the next three years, with the EU saying it is upgrading its relationship with the Arab world’s most populous country to a “strategic partnership”.
The proposed funding includes 5 billion euros ($5.45bn) in concessional loans and 1.8 billion euros ($1.96bn) of investments, according to a summary of the plan published by the EU. An additional 600 million euros ($654m) would be provided in grants, including 200 million euros ($218m) for managing migration issues.
El-Sisi’s office said in a statement that the deal with the EU aims to achieve “a significant leap in cooperation and coordination between the two sides and to achieve common interests”.
Egypt’s economic uncertainty has pushed many to migrate from the Arab nation, with Europe interested in curbing migration from Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa but European governments are worried about the fallout from growing instability in Egypt, which has been struggling to raise foreign currency and has inflation running close to record highs.
Earlier this month, however, the country struck a record deal for Emirati investment, expanded its loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and sharply devalued its currency.
The deal comes amid growing concerns that Israel’s looming ground offensive on Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah could force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to break into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli war on Gaza, now in its sixth month, has pushed more than a million people to Rafah.
Egypt says there are nine million migrants, including about 480,000 who are registered refugees and asylum seekers with the United Nations’ refugee agency. Many of those migrants have established their own businesses, while others work in the huge informal economy as street vendors and house cleaners but Egyptian officials say Cairo deserves recognition for largely shutting off irregular migration from its north coast since 2016 although there has been a surge in Egyptians trying to cross to Europe via Libya, and the EU is already providing support aimed at reducing those flows. (Int’l News Desk)
