Brussels, 22/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU, which, on Monday 21 March, called for dialogue between the government and demonstrators in Yemen to allow an “orderly political transition”, is currently in contact both with the government and with the opposition movement and so is not, for the moment, calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign, the spokesman for Catherine Ashton told reporters on Tuesday 22 March. The conclusions of Monday's Foreign Affairs Council are clear: they condemn the use of violence and demand an immediate halt to repression of demonstrators, he said. To bring an end to the crisis, the EU urges the government and all opposition parties to “engage in constructive, comprehensive and inclusive dialogue without delay”. The conclusions make no mention of President Saleh's stepping down, unlike the comments by French minister Alain Juppé on Monday that the president's departure was “inevitable”. The EU position is the one adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, it has not changed, “but the French foreign minister has the right to say whatever he wants”, Ashton's spokesman commented. (H.B./transl.rt)