EU leaders in Cairo

5 billion euros for migration deal with Egypt

Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer signs a migration pact with the North African country together with other EU heads of state and government in Egypt's capital Cairo on Sunday. The EU is paying a lot for this deal.

Nehammer traveled to Egypt on Sunday for a lightning visit. The aim is to sign a comprehensive EU migration agreement with the country on the Nile. The meeting with President Sisi will also be attended by his counterparts Meloni (Italy), Mitsotakis (Greece) and De Croo (Belgium) as well as EU Commission President von der Leyen.

The EU states have agreed to pay a hefty sum of five billion euros for the deal with Egypt for the period up to 2027. The money is intended to stabilize the Egyptian economy and help with the expansion of Egyptian border protection against the migration flow from neighbouring regions and the interior of Africa. Both Sudan in the south of Egypt and Libya in the west are triggering migration flows.

There is also the threat of a large migration movement from the Gaza Strip. Egypt's border with Gaza is already hermetically sealed off with a double barbed wire wall. From Egyptian soil, the migration movement across the Mediterranean is restricted by strict surveillance.

The Egypt deal is part of the EU's measures against the Mediterranean route and is also intended to ease the burden on Egypt in dealing with the migration problem in its own country. There are several million migrants from inner Africa in Egypt.

Egypt's stability is in Europe's best interest. The Austrian government has been campaigning for years for effective agreements with North African states in order to prevent illegal migration to the EU and Austria. To this end, it maintains intensive contacts with the governments there.

The Chancellor: "We must prevent irregular migrants from reaching Europe's borders in the first place. This requires agreements that also include support measures for the stability of these countries. Our principle is: if you help locally, you help twice."

Such agreements, according to Nehammer, "are successful if they are concluded on an equal footing to the benefit of both sides and also cover other areas of economic cooperation, such as energy, in addition to migration".

Kurt Seinitz from Egypt