The European Commission will increase its financial support to Egypt through a 75 million euros edevelopment package that includes improving access to health, education, water and sanitation, especially for women and youth, EuroNews reported on Wednesday (October 22).

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, is set to sign the agreement on Wednesday, as part of a high–level summit in Brussels.  

Since March 2024, the European Union has strengthened its cooperation with Egypt across six key areas: political relations, economic stability, trade and investment, migration and mobility, security and demography, and human capital. 

The funding is part of a macro-financial framework signed in March 2024, which will see a total investment of 7.4 billion euros in Egypt between 2024 and 2027. 

Egyptian men migrating to Europe

The PRIO Cyprus Center and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung released a joint research paper in 2024, which indicated that economic instability and its consequent job scarcity have fueled the increase in the irregular migration of Egyptian nationals to Europe. The report noted that the trend was most evident among young Egyptian men living in rural areas.

In 2023, Egyptians were among the top nationalities arriving in the EU, with an estimated total of 8,895 arrivals. Numbers in mid-2024 track Egyptians among the most represented nationals in two countries that sit at Europe’s external borders. In Greece, Egyptians accounted for 12 percent of arrivals, and six percent in Italy.  

As of 2023, there were 155,892 Egyptians in Italy, up three percent over the previous year. According to the report, the increase in migration can be linked to the geographical proximity of Italy to Egypt and established migration networks in countries that are typically a launching pad into Europe, such as Libya. 

The prospect of informal employment in some EU countries, such as Italy, serves as a motivating factor to migrants too. Italy’s informal economy is estimated to contribute 11 percent to GDP, while about 15 percent of workers are employed on a non-regular basis.

According to the report, "This creates a cycle where both the lack of legal work opportunities in Egypt and the prevalence of informal jobs in Europe perpetuate irregular migration." 

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Launching pad: Libya 

In 2022, over 20,000 Egyptians reached Italy from Libya—nearly triple the previous year’s count. In addition, the increasing number of boats arriving on Greece’s Crete and Gavdos islands this year points to a new direction in smuggling routes.

By 2023, over 1,075 migrants from Egypt, Bangladesh, and Pakistan arrived via Libya, up from 860 in 2022. According to the joint report by the PRIO Cyprus Center and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, this is likely due to smugglers attempting to circumvent increased central Mediterranean patrols through alternative pathways.

Last month, a group of 207 Egyptian nationals was deported via the land border from Libya back to Egypt. The Deportation Office of the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) said that the deported individuals were in Libya without documentation and were deported after "violating applicable laws."

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Smuggling network dismantled

Earlier this year, Italian authorities arrested seven Egyptian nationals on charges of belonging to a criminal association for migrant trafficking as well as aiding and abetting clandestine migration. The criminal network, which is said to have operated internationally across Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, was behind the trafficking of at least 3,000 migrants from Turkey to Italy and has been dismantled.

According to the authorities, the crime syndicate facilitated the clandestine entrance into Italy of at least 3,000 people since 2021," resulting in an estimated revenue of at least 30 million euros. 

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