Strasbourg, 15/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Optimism seems to be the order of the day at the European Parliament over Egypt's transition to a secular society. At the S&D group, President Martin Schulz said that he had confidence in the promises of free elections made by the military Council and over the role to be played by the Islamic faction. “It is no longer Sharia which is becoming a reference, but the freedom of belief and of expression, principles to which the majority of the Egyptian population aspires”, the German MEP said Tuesday. “I believe that there is a desire to create a secular society. Europe has a part to play by using the Mediterranean instrument”, he added. “Europe is making the same mistake it did in 1989 when the wall came down, with an incorrect analysis of what is happening, with its fears of the Islamic and fundamentalist movements. This is not at all what is going on”, said the President of the Liberals, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt. The President of the EPP, Joseph Daul of France, welcomed "”democratic revolutions (in Egypt and the Arab world) which bear the seed of social progress”. (E.H./transl.fl)