EU pledges $8 billion to help Egypt curb migration
Semafor Signals
Supported by
Insights from Semafor, Politico, and Euronews
The News
The European Union has pledged $8 billion in aid to Egypt in the hopes of bolstering the country’s struggling economy. The deal comes amid concerns that Israel’s looming offensive on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost town, could force hundreds of thousands more migrants into Egypt.
The package, which the European Commission said aims to promote “democracy, fundamental freedoms, human rights, and gender equality,” includes grants and loans for Egypt that will be doled out over the next three years. The EU will help Egypt fortify its borders as part of the deal and support the more than 460,000 Sudanese migrants who have fled to Egypt over the last year, officials said.
Ideally, EU leaders say, the package will help stabilize Egypt and stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean into Europe. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the best way to persuade people in the Global South not to emigrate to Europe was to “reaffirm their rights” on the African continent and help develop their economies. “It is exactly what we’re doing today,” she added.
SIGNALS
Deal is part of a growing trend
The agreement is part of a growing trend in which wealthier Western countries, hoping to prevent waves of migration to their shores, offer financial help to curb irregular migration. The EU has struck similar deals with Turkey and Tunisia and is in talks with Morocco to do the same, Politico reported. Meanwhile Washington has opened migrant-processing hubs in Colombia and Guatemala, Italy is processing asylum applications in Albania, and the U.K. is trying to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as part of a highly controversial $470-million scheme.
These deals have become a “key EU policy tool as it seeks to manage migration despite accusations that outsourcing its border management indirectly supports violations of international law and human rights,” The Financial Times reported.
Deals benefit autocrats, human-rights watchers warn
International rights groups were quick to criticize the package owing to Egypt’s human rights record, with Amnesty International saying that “EU leaders must ensure that the Egyptian authorities adopt clear benchmarks for human rights.”
Deals of this nature have faced broader concerns, too, with critics arguing that Brussels is sending huge amounts of money “to autocratic leaders who may misuse it, with little oversight in terms of respect for human rights,” Politico reported.
Human Rights Watch said the Egypt plan followed the blueprint of “flawed” EU deals with Tunisia and Mauritania where the bloc has provided economic assistance to curb the flow of migrants while turning a blind eye to human rights violations. “The blueprint is the same… stop migrants, ignore abuses,” it said.
Logic of ash EU infusion is flawed, some experts say
The EU’s cash infusion might miss the mark, some experts warned after the announcement, because it fails to address Egypt’s declining rule of law that has contributed to the nation’s economic crisis. “The economic crisis in Egypt is very, very deeply intertwined with the human rights crisis,” an associate director at Human Rights Watch told Euronews. Other human rights-watchers told the outlet that it’s unlikely the EU’s funds will be used to improve the lives of people seeking asylum in Egypt, and the pressure the EU is putting on decreasing irregular migration could encourage Egypt to double down on its “repressive tools,” making life even worse for migrants.
