Italy to Sell Egypt Two Frigates as Ties are Thawing

Italy is on the verge on selling two FREMM frigates to Egypt as relation between the two countries are improving.

The talks for the sale of the two vessels, in the pipeline for some time, have been confirmed by Italy’s Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, and by Fincantieri CEO, Giuseppe Bono, Defense News reports.

The deal will cost Egypt around €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). Italian voices criticized the sale over human rights abuses in Egypt and the murder of Italian PhD student, Giulio Regeni, in Cairo, in 2016.

Italian investigators finger-pointed members of the Egyptian security service in the student’s murder, but Cairo denied any wrongdoing and refused to cooperate with Rome.

The two countries are also opposed in neighboring Libya where Rome backs the UN-sponsored Government of National Accord (GNA) also endorsed by Turkey, while Egypt supports rival government championed by retired and rebel Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

The sale of the two vessels comes amid deterioration of ties between Rome and Ankara on several fronts.

Italy rejects the recruitment by Turkey of Syrian rebels to prop up the GNA and has also taken the side of Egypt, Greece and Cyprus in a maritime crisis that broke out following a deal between Ankara and the GNA in November.

The security and maritime deal extends Turkey’s territorial waters in the Mediterranean, cutting through Greece and Republic of Cyprus’s maritime controls.

They fear Turkey’s gas exploration plans in maritime zones off Cyprus, which have already been allocated to Italian state controlled energy firm ENI.

Egypt has also contracted ENI to help work on an important new gas field in Egypt’s Mediterranean waters.