On Sunday 17 March, the European Union and Egypt signed a ‘strategic and comprehensive partnership’ covering six areas of mutual interest and providing Egypt with €7.4 billion between now and 2027, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi announced in Cairo on the same day.
The EU was also represented by the leaders of Italy, Belgium, Greece, Austria and Cyprus: Giorgia Meloni, Alexander de Croo, Kyriákos Mitsotákis, Karl Nehammer and Nikos Christodoulides.
This partnership, which aims to support Egypt, which is currently in the throes of an economic crisis and destabilised by the neighbouring conflict between Israel and Hamas, should also provide Europeans with cooperation on preventing migrants from leaving for the EU, as well as new energy resources in the form of natural gas and hydrogen.
This partnership will result in €5 billion in macro-financial assistance loans, with €1 billion disbursed this year. The EU will also provide €1.8 billion to help the country finance investment projects in the green and digital transition and in energy, while €200 million will go towards migration management.
This agreement is of “critical importance”, explained the President of the Commission at a press conference, an importance that will only increase given Egypt’s “economic weight” and “strategic location”.
For the Egyptian President, this partnership symbolises the “significant” development of relations between the EU and Egypt in recent years.
According to Alexander de Croo, it will create “more jobs” while reducing immigration flows to the EU, and will also provide “new opportunities” for the younger generations of Egyptians.
The first area of the partnership concerns political relations and the strengthening of dialogue, in particular to “further promote democracy, fundamental freedoms, and human rights, gender equality and equal opportunities, as agreed in the Partnership Priorities”, says the Joint Declaration.
The EU is ready to help Egypt implement its National Strategy for Human Rights, in alignment with the provisions of the Association Agreement and the Partnership Priorities 2021-2027. An EU-Egypt Summit will be held every two years, bringing together the Presidents of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the European Commission and the European Council, alternately in Cairo and Brussels, in addition to the annual Association Council.
The second area concerns economic stability. “The European Union stands ready to support Egypt’s 2030 development Agenda to secure long-term macro-economic stability and sustainable economic growth, based on jointly defined priorities and reform objectives along the Egyptian development agenda”. This support will complement IMF funding.
With regard to investment and trade, the third area will involve strengthening aspects of cooperation with Egypt in a wide range of fields, including renewable energy and renewable hydrogen, advanced industrialisation, agriculture, food security, connectivity and digitalisation, water security and water management. These will attract up to €5 billion of European investment backed by guarantees under the European Fund for Sustainable Development and the Economic Investment Plan.
“The EU and Egypt acknowledge that the new geopolitical and energy market reality requires deepening their existing partnership to support their energy security”, the declaration states.
The fourth area deals with migration. “The European Union will further provide the necessary financial support to assist Egypt on migration-related programs that entail developing a holistic approach to migration including legal migration pathways in line with national competences, and mobility schemes such as the Talent Partnerships, tackling the root causes of irregular migration, combating smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons, strengthening border management, and ensuring dignified and sustainable return and reintegration”.
In terms of security, the fifth part of the agreement, the two parties reaffirm their efforts to combat all security problems, in particular within the framework of the Global Counter Terrorism Forum.
Finally, on demography and human capital, the last area, the EU wants to support technical and vocational education and training.
This will assist with “matching skills and labour market needs, including through labour mobility, seasonal worker schemes and continued support for the socio-economic reintegration of Egyptian returnees in Egypt”. The EU will also enable Egypt to negotiate its membership of Creative Europe, Horizon Europe and Digital Europe. An EU-Egypt university initiative could be under consideration.
Famine in Gaza
On Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen and Alexander de Croo also called on the Israeli government and Hamas to reach a truce to end the famine in Gaza.
“Gaza is facing famine and we cannot accept this”, said the President, who considered it “crucial to reach a rapid agreement on a ceasefire that will free the hostages and allow more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza”.
For his part, the head of the EU Council Presidency described the situation in Gaza as “unacceptable” and called on the Israeli government to “increase access to humanitarian aid” and to allow “more food and medicine to be delivered”, when this is not what is happening on the ground.
The issue was on the agenda of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday 18 March (see related article).
Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/bdb (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)