European Union’s $8 Billion Aid Package for Egypt Sparks Controversy

Part of the deal is to stem migration flows to Europe, but watchdog groups insist it overlooks the El-Sisi government’s record and breaches of human rights.

Rescued immigrant Wael Mahmoud Mohammed (C), lies in bed with other survivors at Rashid Hospital in Rosetta, northern Egypt, on Sept. 21, 2016, after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean off Egypt's north coast, drowning 42 people. Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP via Getty Images

YAOUNDE, Cameroon—The European Union has strongly defended its recent move offering financing to Egypt in return for migration curbs.

There has been widespread criticism that the move violates humanitarian law.

In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, the EU Commission’s Spokesperson’s Service (SPP) has reaffirmed the 27-nation bloc’s desire to elevate its relationship with Egypt to the level of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership” across all spheres of mutual interest, building on the 2004 Association Agreement and the 2022 Partnership Priorities.

EU leaders late last month sealed a 7.4 billion euro ($8 billion) deal with Egypt to help boost the north African country’s faltering economy and stem migration flows to Europe.

The three-year EU–Egypt strategic partnership involves $5.45 billion in soft loans to support economic changes, $1.96 billion to support investments from the private sector, and $654 million in grants, including $218 million for migration management.

“Migration is a global phenomenon that must be addressed in cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination alike, and it must be managed in full respect of international law,” the SPP told The Epoch Times in an email.

“This is fully in line with the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, which calls on developing migration partnerships to address this phenomenon.

“With this partnership, the EU aims to support Egypt and its people in tackling the different crises it is facing, to protect shared prosperity and stability and accompany Egypt’s socioeconomic development and macro-economic reforms.”

The EU has sealed similar pacts with Mauritania, Tunisia, Turkey, and other countries since 2016 as it seeks to reduce irregular arrivals.

Like the previous deals, rights groups have sharply criticized the latest pact as ignoring humanitarian law.

The first major concern was raised by the EU’s rights watchdog, Emily O'Reilly, who insisted that such cooperation agreements ought to have factored in the issue of human rights while outlining redress in case of violations.

“Because otherwise it looks as if the money is being given, but everything that happens next is slightly more opaque,” Ms. O'Reilly said in an address to the EU’s executive commission that handles such agreements.

Her views are shared by Emily Wigens, EU director at the ONE Campaign, an international campaigning and advocacy organization leading action to end extreme poverty.

Ms. Wigens described the EU’s aid package to Egypt as an “unfortunate continuation” of a concerning trend in which the EU readily compromises on its core values in favour of short-term political gains.

“These deals, along with the recent revision of the EU’s seven-year budget, mark a turning point for ‘Global Europe,’” she told The Epoch Times in an email.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sits with the German chancellor during their meeting in Cairo on Oct. 18, 2023. Michael Kappeler/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Members of the European Parliament had earlier accused Brussels of “bankrolling dictators” as a result of a similar deal with Tunisia last year.

Human Rights Watch has slammed the latest “cash-for-migration-control” deal with Egypt, saying that it would “reward Egypt’s autocratic leader” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Speaking in the same light, Amnesty International urged European leaders to not be complicit with rights violations taking place in Egypt.

But the EU SPP pushed back, stating that human rights remain a “high priority in our relationship with Egypt.”

It pointed out that the political framework for the EU’s bilateral relations with Egypt remains the Association Agreement and the Partnership Priorities mutually agreed in 2022, in which both parties commit to “further promote democracy, fundamental freedoms, and human rights, gender equality and equal opportunities.”

It also stated that the EU continues to discuss human rights matters regularly with Egyptian counterparts via such platforms as the Subcommittee on Political Matters, Human Rights and Democracy (last held on Dec. 8, 2022), the Association Committee (May 22, 2023), and the Association Council (Jan. 23), as well as through the engagement of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights.

“We consistently make clear to our Egyptian partners that an improvement of the human rights situation in Egypt will positively impact our bilateral relations,” the SPP wrote to The Epoch Times.

“Moreover, human rights matters will be raised systematically at all levels and fora, using as a benchmark international human rights commitments and Egypt’s declared goals in its National Human Rights Strategy.”

Barely a week after the EU–Egypt landmark deal, a group of 27 international nongovernmental organizations—among them the Egyptian Human Rights Forum, Refugees International, and Sudanese Women Rights Action (SUWRA)—indicted Egyptian authorities for arresting and detaining Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers in inhumane conditions, subjecting them to unfair trials, and forcibly returning them to Sudan in violation of Egypt’s constitution and international obligations.

Egypt currently hosts 9 million refugees and migrants (about 10 percent of its roughly 106 million people), including 4 million from Sudan and 1.5 million Syrians, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration.

About 480,000 have registered as refugees and asylum seekers with the U.N.’s 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.

Egypt is one of the main crossing points for migrants from North Africa heading for Europe and is fast becoming a transit country for international migrants aspiring to reach coastal departure locations with less effective marine patrol measures, such as Libya.

As of September 2023, they numbered about 186,000 people, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

The EU Asylum Agency reported that asylum applications submitted by Egyptians to European countries increased to 26,512 in 2023 from 6,616 in 2021.

Egyptians were the largest group of illegal immigrants arriving in Europe using the Mediterranean route, which the European Border and Coast Guard Agency noted was used by more than 100,000 migrants in 2022, Middle East Monitor reported.

Italian government figures show more than 11,000 Egyptians fled to Italy in 2023.

Cairo has repeatedly stated that it deserves recognition for largely shutting off irregular migration from its north coast since 2016.

The Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos have seen a steep rise in migrant arrivals in recent months—mostly from Egypt, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—raising concerns about a new Mediterranean smuggling route.

The EU also faced a surge in migrants arriving via the Mediterranean Sea during 2023 following a lull in 2022. EU officials have expressed fears that the numbers are climbing again in 2024.

The EU–Egypt Deal in Six Pillars

The $8 billion financial and investment package has six areas of “mutual interest” for the EU and Egypt: intense political dialogue, macroeconomic stability, sustainable investment and trade, migration and mobility, security, and human capital development.

With this partnership, the EU aims to support Egypt and its people in tackling the different crises it is facing, protect shared prosperity and stability, and accompany Egypt’s socioeconomic development and macroeconomic reforms.

“The partnership will cover specific areas of cooperation, including political relations; economic stability; investments and trade, including energy, water, food security, and climate change; migration and mobility; security; and demography and human capital, and it will provide a platform for continued political dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Egypt to tackle regional and international challenges jointly,” the SPP told The Epoch Times.

On migration, the spokesperson explained, the EU and Egypt will cooperate in a “holistic way,” with a focus on tackling the root causes of irregular migration, protection, combating smuggling of migrants and human trafficking, strengthening border management, and ensuring dignified and sustainable return and reintegration as well as on legal pathways.

“The commission—on behalf of the EU—and the Egyptian authorities would agree on a specific set of structural reform measures, to be defined in two Memoranda of Understanding, one for each of the two operations,” the SPP stated.

“These reform measures would support the authorities’ reform agenda and complement the programmes agreed with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other donors. Disbursement would then be conditional on satisfactory progress with the implementation of these agreed reforms.”

But Ms. Wigens said the EU needs to “rethink” this approach, given that retaining “soft power” is vital for maintaining its position as a “global” and “trusted” leader.

“We are seeing the EU’s use of development aid straying further and further away from its intended objective of long-term poverty eradication which is damaging the EU’s credibility and diminishing trust with partners,” she told The Epoch Times.

Aid Package, ‘Long Overdue’

Across Egypt, political actors and analysts have described the recent EU package as long overdue while expressing the wish to see how it trickles down to refugees, migrants, and their hosts.

Ibrahim El Nattar, deputy secretary general of the Arab African Council on Socioeconomic Development (AACSED), said the deal has the potential to “support stability” in the entire region through the joint work of immigration control.

“There is no room for criticism of such a [noble] effort,” Mr. El Nattar told The Epoch Times.

Dr. Mohamed Abd El Ghaffar, president of Pan African Movement International Commission and ambassador of the Organization to North African Countries and the Arab World, said the strategic partnership agreement between Egypt and the EU—coming after similar ones with the United States, Russia, and China—is an “important step” that will help to deal with “some aspects of migration problems.”

“Migrants in Egypt live freely in different cities among the population and enjoy the same services and aid services like jobs, monetary assistance, schooling, scholarships, health care,” Mr. Ghaffar told The Epoch Times.

“Their [presence] overloads Egyptian security, economic, and social problems. We need to curtail them but also our aspiring youth from illegal immigration across the borders or across the sea to Europe, where lie nearest welfare states.”

For his part, Mohamed Zayed, chairman of the AACSED and International Consulting Ltd, said the cost of not having the new joint European–Egyptian cooperation leading the charge towards stability and protection of human rights would pale in comparison to the cost of not having such “timely, intelligent, and robust political and financial cooperation.”

“The EU president—together with leaders of Belgium, Italy, Austria, Cyprus, and Greece—understood the implications of failing to act jointly with Egypt to suppress and control the obvious negative implication of migrants whose numbers have swelled into great numbers in recent years due to regional conflicts, much of which stem from some western policymakers currently inhabiting the White House and others,” Mr. Zayed told The Epoch Times.

He said European leaders and other financial partners all understand the importance and implications of not instituting a joint effort on all fronts (political, economic, and strategic security).

“Egypt has a very robust diplomatic corps and advanced international lobby whose hard work over these recent years finally bore fruit and during a time that could see an unprecedented uptick in migration flows, which could reach many more millions if not handled properly,” Mr. Zayed said.

“The joint financial support came not a moment too soon!”