EU FMs to discuss cutting Egypt aid

European foreign ministers expect in an emergency meeting to discuss cutting aid to Egypt, while hoping a regime-Islamist accord can be reached, officials said. The Wednesday meeting in Brussels will come two days after senior diplomatic officials of the 28 European Union countries "urgently" reviewed the bloc's relations with Egypt, officials said. EU officials would not say what the ministers would do, but some ministers have already called for a cutback or suspension in the bloc's aid program and a rethinking of the EU's relationship with Egypt's military-led interim regime in light of its violent crackdown on anti-regime activists. The EU and its member nations are the largest donor of non-military aid to Egypt, with long-term programs worth about $800 million, The New York Times said. But many of those programs are blocked by the political turmoil, EU officials said. The EU and its member countries in November pledged up to $6.7 billion in grants and loans to Egypt through 2013 after the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi became president. But much of the money was tied to democratic or economic reforms and little has been spent. The senior diplomatic officials meeting in Brussels Monday said through EU Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean Bernardino Leon they hoped, despite the crackdown, Egypt's interim regime and Islamist Morsi backers would reach a settlement. "We believe a political solution is possible, and we have to insist upon it," Leon said. "All violence from both sides needs to stop. There are no easy solutions, no easy way out. But the EU will keep striving for this." He said Europe, moving forward, would work with Egypt's "democratic forces." The EU "will act as a constructive actor in giving a political solution," Leon said. But at the same time, "We will respond to the situation." Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said Sunday the EU discussions about reviewing relations and possibly cutting aid made clear that Egypt must review its relations with the EU and the West in general. He said Egypt was "not looking to replace one friend with another, but we will look out to the world and continue to establish relations with other countries so we have options." He said he asked "the Foreign Ministry to review the foreign aid of the past and to see if those aids are used in an optimal way."