What's behind the EU's deal with Egypt?

The Salzburger Nachrichten points out that there are many aspects to the deal:

“The partnership agreement with Egypt is not a 100 percent migration deal like the one Brussels concluded with Turkey. The money is not earmarked for taking care of refugees to ensure that they don't move on. Migration is just one of many areas of cooperation, just as in the agreement with Tunisia. And while in Europe's capitals the keywords migration and security are probably highlighted in the agreement, in Cairo and Tunis it is probably the terms investment and trade.”

The Frankfurter Rundschau criticises the agreement:

“The EU, which is committed to human rights, is outsourcing responsibility - so that human rights violations are not seen so clearly. ... For the people fleeing al-Sisi's regime, the agreement is a bitter message. But it also affects men and women from Sudan, a country at civil war, who are trying to reach safety. If border controls are tightened this will force them to embark on even more dangerous escape routes. The human smuggling industry, which the deal is supposedly intended to combat, can rub its hands in glee.”

De Volkskrant sees no alternative to the dubious deal:

“Creating more opportunities for legal migration is one way to reduce uncontrolled migration. Foreign policy is often a choice between unattractive alternatives. Supporting al-Sisi's regime goes against European values, but doing nothing endangers the stability of the EU. Of course the EU is getting its hands dirty by doing business with a dictator like the one in Egypt, but democratic leaders are hard to come by in the region.”

Brussels is also pinning its hopes on asylum centres being set up in Egypt, the Kleine Zeitung suspects:

“Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi can rejoice. At a meeting of various EU leaders in Cairo the EU promised 7.4 billion euros for his heavily indebted country. Of course, the reasons for this are less altruistic than strategic. In addition to supporting the reliable guardian in the Mediterranean, which prevents mass migration from other countries and Egypt itself, Brussels is also eyeing up the country as a potential partner for (still controversial) asylum centres in third countries.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had no business accompanying von der Leyen, La Repubblica rails:

“There is something contradictory about a government that is convinced of its Atlanticist position within the placenta of liberal democracies, yet seems to have no interest in defending and cultivating the preconditions for such a position. ... A disruption of principles that appears to be a structural defect of our right-wing government, both within the confines of our country and outside it, as demonstrated by the parade of Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen in Cairo for the signing of yet another anti-migration pact. ... And not with just any regime, but with the one that has refused any truth about the state's murder of an Italian citizen, Giulio Regeni.”

The agreement comes too late to prevent the right-wing populists from making gains in the EU elections, Kurier believes:

“The current actions of the EU leadership can only be explained by the pressure Brussels is under as a result of the asylum problem. Countries as important as Germany are suffering a wave of migration because freedom of movement in the Schengen area no longer works - and because right-wing populists are gaining ground due to the high migration levels. The result of all this will be presented at the EU elections on 9 June. The EU's Egypt deal comes far too late for a turnaround.”