Shoukry to meet EU foreign ministers, but there’s no refugee deal for Egypt on the table: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has been invited to attend next month’s meeting of European Union foreign ministers, but a long-rumored financial assistance package to curb the flow of refugees to Europe is not in the cards. That’s the word from yesterday’s meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council. Speaking after the gathering, top EU diplomat Federica Mogherini was directly asked “On Egypt: is there a migration compact in the pipeline?” to which she replied “No, on this question no, clearly not,” adding that any cooperation on the issue would have to run through the usual channels. Austria and Germany have since last fall promoted the notion of a Turkey-style agreement with Egypt that would give the Ismail government incentives to stem the flow of illegal migrants to the EU. Mogherini noted that EU foreign ministers had “agreed to increase the EU’s engagement with Egypt, a key country in its region, and help it meet a number of challenges.” Among them: The economy and deepening security cooperation. Watchthe post-meeting press conference (runtime: 19:18), read its official statement or check out this partial readout of Mogherini’s remarks and the Q&A.