BERLIN — The uneasy relationship between European economic interests and foreign policy ideals was on full display Wednesday in the German capital. That day, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had refused for months to accept a visit from Egypt’s leader, welcomed President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to Berlin, and German industrial giant Siemens signed an 8 billion euro deal ($9 billion) with Egypt to supply gas and wind power plants to boost Egypt’s electricity generation by 50 percent. Standing by Sisi at a joint news conference in Berlin, Merkel said that Germany and Egypt have many common interests but maintain different views on issues such as the death sentence and other human rights matters. “I think that if one wants to be partners and solve complex issues, we have to be able talk about these things,” she said. The press conference ended in chaos after a woman from the media began yelling that Sisi was a “murderer” and members of the Egyptian state media responded with shouts of “Egypt lives!” Before the press conference deteriorated into a shouting match, Sisi defended his regime’s use of capital punishment, arguing it was a matter for the Egyptian judiciary. “Let the process run its course,” he said. ”We, too, love democracy and freedoms in Egypt. But we live in a very difficult time.”

‘Human rights crisis’

Despite Merkel’s criticism and the ideological sparring, the the trip has been a big success for Sisi, whose regime “presides over the gravest human rights crisis Egypt in decades,” according to a joint statement by Amnesty International and other nongovernmental organizations. She previously stated that she would not host him in Berlin until Egypt held fair parliamentary elections. Such elections have not yet taken place. Merkel changed her mind and invited Sisi to Berlin because “Egypt is an immensely important player in the Arab world” and could contribute to peace in the region, the chancellor’s spokesman told Deutsche Welle when the visit was announced in May. Sisi’s visit has been very controversial for German society. Berlin is “forfeiting one of its most powerful diplomatic instruments in exchange for a lucrative business deal,” read a staff op-ed by Raniah Salloum published Wednesday by German news outlet Der Spiegel. Germany’s Parliament Speaker Norbert Lammert took a stand against the visit, saying there were no grounds for a meeting with Sisi because Sisi contributes neither to domestic peace nor to the democratization of his country. “Despite expectations from Egypt to schedule a date for the long-awaited parliamentary elections, what we are witnessing in recent months is systematic persecution of opposition groups, mass arrests, convictions to lengthy prison terms and an incredible number of death sentences,” read a statement released by Lammert.

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