Egypt: Statements by EU HR/VP Borrell and EU Commissioner Johansson

Check against delivery!

Thank you very much, Minister [for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty]. First of all, congratulations for your appointment.

You did a lot when you were ambassador in Brussels to increase and improve the relationship between the European Union and Egypt. I am sure that we will continue on this track.

I was in Cairo almost exactlyone year agoand there have been frequent interactions between the European Union and Egypt at the highest level.

Since my last visit, our partnership – as the Minister has explained – has been growing and has been elevated to aStrategic and Comprehensiveone, but – unfortunately – the regional situation continues deteriorating, both in terms of human tragedy and security risks. Not only to your East with Palestine and Lebanon, but also to your West in Libya, and to your South in Sudan, as you rightly mentioned.

And while I can appreciate our solid bilateral ties with Egypt, I cannot help but mention the dramatic situation in this region, where the confluence of crises poses a direct threat on both Egypt’s and the European Union’s security.

No solution can work without full engagement and support by Egypt – and I thank you for all your efforts in this context.

But bad news continues coming. Today, a new attack by the Israeli Defence Forces in a refugee camp in Gaza has produced more than 40 people being killed, and 60 people being wounded.

I cannot not raise my voice against these kinds of things. The war has always laws. It is difficult to believe that these laws of war are being fulfilled.

In our bilateral cooperation, we have been showing solidarity with you in a critical moment – [with] a [financial]package announced in June which is going to be implemented, and the successfulInvestment Conferencethat saw some 30 agreements signed totalling almost €50 billion.

We will continue supporting Egypt in the recovery, offering assistance in the implementation of the much-needed reforms including in the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy. And we are very much aware of the impact on your financing by the Houthi’s attacks against navigation in the Red Sea.

We will be together with you through investment, and economic and financial support in order to face these difficult circumstances.

We also have to focus our collective efforts to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal in Gaza, while doing everything we can to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation of people there.

We have been giving full support, Minister, to you – to Egypt – to Qatar and to the United States on trying to look for a ceasefire agreement. A ceasefire that has been announced so many times; we are almost there, but we are not there. Why? Quite simple: because those who are waging war have no interest in putting an end to it. So, they are pretending. Less and less pretending, because their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity and their acts have no consequences.

A blatant violation of international law remains disregarded. If institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the International Court of Justice’s rulings are totally ignored, then, what is the solution? And whom may we trust?

We will continue supporting you on looking for a ceasefire. First step, the liberation of hostages, humanitarian support and political solution. This is the clear objective, first step in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in a couple of weeks. But we have to launch the process, not just an event.

We have to launch a process in order to continue working every day with everybody willing to build the two-state solution, committed and looking for what kind of pressure we can put on the ones who do not want this solution.

We have been very much committed in supporting the people in Gaza; almost €300 million in humanitarian support. Certainly, it is badly needed, but it is not enough.

I am coming from theRafah bordervery much impacted by what I have seen there: 1,500 trucks queuing and waiting to come into Gaza Strip, conveying the humanitarian supply that people on the other side of the border are waiting for.

Ambulances of the Red Crescent waiting to try to evacuate the wounded people that cannot cross the border.

This is something that the international community cannot afford. That is why I think that the international community, in New York, will have to discuss about what we can do in order to stop this dramatic situation.

Then, certainly, we talked about the situation in Sudan. I am very much aware, Minister, of the burden that the war in Sudan represents for the Egyptian economy and society. I do not know how many more – [almost] 1 million people coming from Sudan looking for refuge in Egypt, posing socioeconomic pressure on the country? I understand very well that you are doing here an incredible effort in order to support these people, but we also have to support you to support them.

We discussed about the situation in Somalia, and the will of Egypt to participate in the military mission in the framework of the United Nations in order to fight against Al-Shabaab terrorism and to preserve the integrity of this country.

All in all, Minister, times demand dialogue, compromise and de-escalation. You are at the core of a region that faces unprecedented conflicts and instability. And this is certainly not in the interest of ordinary people [to have] this situation.

I am very glad we have Egypt as a partner, with whom we can continuously discuss how to best tackle those challenges, advance in reforms and to fight and to work to restore peace and stability. This is our strategic interest, for you and for the European Union.

I thank you a lot for your cooperation and your work with us.

Q&A

Q. [In Arabic – e-Translation]

Yesterdayin Rafah you stated that your ability to pressure Israel is limited; to use your words “our capacities are limited”. We did not expect to hear this from the European Union, given the amount of economic, political and military relations between you and Israel, between your countries and Israel. Is that what you intend to say when you will meet the Foreign Ministers at the League of Arab States meeting? Is that also what you intend to say in Lebanon when you get there? Just good wishes and condemnations?

Nobody can say that what we are doing in the region is just good wishes. We are the biggest donor to the Palestinian Authority. It is not wishes, it is millions of euros. We have been the biggest donor to support the humanitarian people in Gaza; it is not good wishes. It is more than €300 million since the start of the war. We have been very vocal in all international fora in order to ask for a ceasefire.

But at the same time, you know very well that this issue is a very dividing issue inside the European Union, that different Member States have different positions. And I have to represent a common position which, in some cases, it is difficult to get. But it does not obstruct that we [are] continuing engaging with all our capacities and financial resources. No one has done more than the European Union in order to support the Palestinian Authority and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. So, please, do not say that it is just ‘wishes’ – look at the current accounts. Look at the money flows. Look at the number of flights landing in the airport where it was landing yesterday, conveying humanitarian support to the people in Gaza. Is someone doing more than us?

Thank you.

Link to the video (starting at 8:20) :https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-260686

Source – EEAS