EU leaders ink €7.4B economic aid, migration deal with Egypt

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CAIRO, Egypt — The EU on Sunday signed a major aid deal with Egypt geared at curbing irregular migration to Europe’s shores and boosting the North African country’s economy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, flanked by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi as well as five EU national leaders, said the deal worth €7.4 billion would be doled out over four years and is aimed in part at boosting border controls.

The agreement with Egypt fits into a series of similar deals that Brussels has signed with countries on its periphery as European leaders aim to curb irregular migration to the bloc ahead of the pan-EU election coming up in June.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has been a driving force behind such deals, hailed the EU-Egypt accord as a chance to give “residents of Africa” a chance “not to emigrate” to Europe. 

The EU leaders and el-Sisi also insisted on the need for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, with von der Leyen warning that inhabitants “face famine” in the war-torn Gaza Strip. “Gaza faces a famine and we cannot accept this,” she said. 

The EU’s so-called externalization strategy for handling migration faces criticism from advocacy groups which say the deals lack safeguards on human rights, exposing migrants to brutal conditions in camps, and putting money into the hands of autocrats like Tunisian President Kais Saied. But following a migration surge in the mid-2010s, the strategy has won broad support from governments in the 27-member bloc.

After inking similar accords with Turkey, Tunisia, Mauritania and now Egypt, the EU is expected to sign another deal with Morocco, according to an EU official granted anonymity to discuss non-public deliberations.

According to an EU document seen by POLITICO, the bloc’s money for Egypt is due to be disbursed in tranches between 2024 and 2027 and will be divided into grants and loans. A grant of some €200 million is earmarked for migration while other funds are geared toward investment, bilateral projects and macro-financial assistance.

The funds will help to shore up Egypt’s security forces and bolster its economy, which has been battered by soaring inflation and crippling unemployment. Missile attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen against commercial ships have also disrupted trade via the Red Sea, further hurting commerce in Egypt.

“We fund investment so we can create more economic activity in Egypt, so that the younger generation stays there,” said the EU official. “Egypt is also facing a huge migration crisis with Sudanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees arriving en masse. They are dealing desperately with that. Our goal is to help them cope.”

The EU-Egypt deal coincides with an uptick in irregular migration to the bloc of wealthy countries. Following a lull in 2022, the EU faced a surge in migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea during 2023 and numbers are climbing again in 2024, according to the EU official.

A deal inked with Tunisia last July and the one due to be signed Sunday are aimed, in part, to limit access to Libya, where many migrants fall prey to human traffickers, the official added.

Growing controversy

The €7.4 billion for Egypt marks the latest payout for countries in Europe’s periphery following similar deals also with Turkey, Mauritania and, likely in coming months, Morocco. In addition, the EU has increased resources for border agency Frontex, which now counts more than 10,000 agents under its flag.

Even so, right-wing and conservative EU parties want to go further. In its election manifesto, the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) calls for Frontex’s staff to be tripled to 30,000.

The drive to curb migration comes despite growing controversy, with some critics suggesting a discrepancy between the bloc’s approach to refugees from Ukraine and those coming from further afield.

“We have a war in Europe,” said the EU official. “The objective for them is to go back home once the war is over. The large majority of people crossing the Mediterranean are economic migrants — a completely different model.

Critics also argue that Brussels is forking over huge sums to autocratic leaders who may misuse it, with little oversight in terms of respect for human rights. Last October, Tunisia refused entry to a group of EU lawmakers seeking to check how the EU-Tunis deal was being implemented.

Human rights groups argue that the deal with Tunisia has merely redirected migrants toward neighboring Libya, a war-torn country known for modern-day slavery, human traffickers and horrific mistreatment of migrants.

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