CAIRO — It seems bizarre that only a year has passed since the European Parliament called for a halt to military aid and weapons sales to Egypt following the killing of the Italian student, Giulio Regeni, in Cairo. Member states demanded back then, in March 2016, that Egyptian authorities stop their human rights violations. They also ruled out any new cooperation initiatives from the Egyptian side, saying Egypt’s ongoing repression meant relations could not carry on as normal.
But this year, Cairo hosted one of the EU's most powerful figures, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who promised half a billion dollars to support Egypt’s economic program.