Luxembourg, 15 June 2026
The Association Council between the European Union and Egypt held its 11th meeting on Monday, 15 June in Luxembourg. The meeting was co-chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty, who led the Egyptian delegation. Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, also participated on behalf of the European Commission.
Building on the first EU-Egypt summit held in October 2025, the Association Council reviewed the implementation of the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, launched in March 2024, and discussed avenues for further strengthening bilateral cooperation.
The parties took stock of progress across the Partnership’s six pillars, namely political relations, economic stability, trade and investment, migration and mobility, security, and demography and human capital.
The exchange also provided an opportunity to discuss global issues of common interest and the regional situation, including developments in the Middle East and North Africa region and their implications for EU-Egypt cooperation.
- The European Union and Egypt (EEAS)
- EU-Egypt summit (22 October 2025)
- EU-Egypt partnership priorities 2021-2027
- EU-Egypt Association Agreement
Source – EU Council
EU-Egypt Association Council: Joint Press remarks by High Representative Kaja Kallas and Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates of Egypt
Check against delivery!
Minister Abdelatty, dear Badr, it is a great pleasure to welcome you here in Luxembourg today, and all of your delegation as well. This evening there will be a Belgium and Egypt match, so that is actually very difficult, but I hope you do not mind that we will still steer for the European team as the High Representative of the European Union. But I wish you all the best as well on that front.
But before that, we have our meeting today.
We are – EU and Egypt – strategic partners. Association Council is the first since we signed our Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership in 2024 and we have come a long way since then.
Today, we will discuss how we can move on in the strategic priorities, including: trade, investment, energy, green transition, migration, people to people contacts.
We are also stepping up our security cooperation. In this security environment, I think it is extremely important. Earlier this month, the EU agreed an additional €20 million support for the package for Egypt Armed Forces. This will help strengthen maritime security in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and these are two waterways that are of strategic importance, both for the EU, but also for Egypt.
Russia’s shadow fleet poses a great danger, both in European and Egyptian waters, and we will also discuss how we can tighten sanctions enforcement together. In the Mediterranean, EU naval vessels from Operation IRINI are now boarding ships smuggling Russian oil, and the EU will continue to make those operations harder, riskier, as well as more costly.
I want to commend Egypt for playing a vital role in regional diplomacy. Today, we heard news as well, including you hosting Hamas disarmament talks and supporting the Iran talks. We appreciate your commitment to mediation.
Ministers will also discuss the wars in the region – the lack of progress in implementing the Gaza Peace plan holds the region back. The terms are very clear: Hamas must disarm, Israel must pull back, and the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza must move in.
As a priority, we also want to see the increase of the flow of people at the Rafah border crossing and continue to facilitate medical evacuations. And again, Egypt is our key partner here.
So, dear Badr, I look forward to our discussions. Thank you for being here.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-291112
Source – EEAS