Brussels, 23/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, has condemned the violent repression of demonstrations in Iran. “We have seen violence that we have to condemn”, Solana told the press after meeting Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Stockholm on Tuesday 23 June. “We expected that the election process would be something clearly positive for the international community. Unfortunately what we have seen today is something very different”, he commented. Mr Bildt said Sweden, which will be holding the EU Presidency from 1 July this year, had called the Iranian ambassador to Stockholm for a meeting to condemn the repression of peaceful demonstrations. On Monday 22 June, the Czech EU Presidency said it was “deeply concerned” by the “brutal violence” used against demonstrators. The Czech Presidency also categorically rejected Iran's declarations that positions expressed by the EU and member states are unlawful interference in Iranian internal affairs. “The EU has the right to question whether the objective criteria of a transparent and democratic electoral process have been upheld in any country”, the Czech Presidency states in a press release on 22 June. (H.B./transl.jl)