Prime ministers of Greece, Italy and Belgium as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to visit Egypt on March 17.
There is information about a 7.4 billion euro EU aid package to Egypt with the aim to fortify the country’s border with Libya.
Greece and Europe are under intense migratory pressure from Egypt, causing alarm in the relevant authorities.
In this context, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to Cairo on Sunday, together with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the prime ministers of Italy and Belgium.
According to Financial Times, the European Union is preparing a €7.4 billion aid package for Egypt, an amount that may be increased in the near future.
The €1 billion is expected to be provided in 2024 to cover short-term needs. Five billion, is for International Monetary Fund programmes, while the remaining 4 billion needs parliamentary approval and is for the period 2025-2027.
1.8 billion is for investment attraction and 600 million for technical assistance and migration (i.e. border guard training, reception centres, etc.).
The aid package aims to strengthen Egypt and support its economy in order to fortify its border with Libya, where the bulk of migratory flows originate.
At the same time, the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan have raised the alarm in Europe, as they are likely to exacerbate economic problems and increase migratory pressures.
Next to ‘imported’ migrants Egypt sees parts of its own population eager to leave the country due to bad economy and political pressure.
1,500 arrivals in Crete in the last quarter
The problem directly affects Greece as according to official data 1,500 migrants arrived on the island of Crete in the first quarter of 2024.
Last weekend, more than 220 migrants arrived, with most of them coming from Libya.
The told authorities that on their country’s coastline, some 20,000 of their compatriots are waiting to travel to the island, which is at the heart of the migration corridor.
“They have turned our island into a gateway, in the last ten days culminating last weekend, arrivals became too much and I believe this was logical because of the improvement in weather conditions,” Nikos Syrigonakis, deputy regional governor of the Heraklion Unity, told state-broadcaster ERT.
With a population of 80 million, Egypt is in a strategic position in the migration flows from Africa.
It absorbs a lot of migration from the African continent. So there are so many reasons for us to work together,” said European Commission spokesman Peter Stano.
He added that the European Union has considered Egypt an important partner for 20 years, recalling the 20th anniversary of the Association Agreement.
Basically, they are doing what Berlusconi did with Ghadaff. The former paid the latter to stop the flow of migrants.And he paid mush less. It worked. There was no migration and there were no people traffickers. Ghadaffi made sure of that. But then the US, France and the UK wanted to get rid of Ghadaffi. Some say because he wanted an African coin based on the price of oil or gold. Italy did not want to get rid of Ghadaffi. After Ghadaffi was dead, Italy paid a lot more in housing migrants than what they paid Ghadaffi. . And what’s worse, Libya laid in ruins and actual slave markets were established in some towns there! Yes, slave markets. And thousands of migrants lost their lives trying to cross the MED with many also dying in the deserts at the hands of people traffickers. Oh what a terrible mess they created.
Invest in Africa. Give people a reason not to make the dangerous journey.