Brussels, 10/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Organisations active in Egypt made a call on Thursday 9 February for the EU to take some action on the situation in the country. “The EU should not just sit back and fold its arms. It mustn't support a regime like this”, said Ahmed Samih, Director of the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies. “The young people (demonstrating) in the street are just ignored. How can anyone support such a regime? If you support the Egyptian parliament, you're moving in the wrong direction”, he added, aiming his comments at MEPs. “Elections don't mean democracy”, he went on, stating that the new members of parliament were acting in exactly the same way as those in the previous regime.
Highlighting Egyptian mistrust of EU interference, Anthony Dworkin of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) argued that it is important for the EU to “focus on the right political message to increase its legitimacy”. In his view, that message should be “support for the aspirations of the Egyptian people for a representative system based on the rule of law”.
Difficult situation. The head of the European Office of the Adenauer Foundation Dr Stefan Gehrold spoke of the difficulties being faced by his office in Cairo: the premises have been raided and material seized and two of its members are facing criminal charges and are not allowed to leave the country. They stand accused of involvement in banned activities and the regime has accused the Foundation of receiving foreign funding without notifying the appropriate authorities. (CG/transl.rt)