EU holds emergency meeting on Egypt amid diverging positions

The EU and Egypt began diplomatic relations in 1966 and Europe considers Egypt to be an important strategic partner. " Egypt is a key partner of the European Union. We share interests in and responsibility for the maintenance of peace and stability in a strategic region. Further escalation must be prevented. It could have unpredictable consequences for Egypt and for its broader neighbourhood, "warned EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a joint statement on Sunday . They also stressed that the EU would "urgently review in the coming days its relations with Egypt." Some European newspapers are calling for tough measures against the Egyptian interim government. French daily Le Monde wrote that "the choice made by the camp around Al-Sissi to (disperse) protesters ... constitutes an unacceptable turning point that calls for a penalty. Europe must suspend its aid. It is a matter of principle." But German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung voiced scepticism of the measures available to the EU. "Relations with the military leaders in Cairo can be frozen and they can be punished by withdrawing aid. But they will not tolerate having the EU meddle in internal Egyptian affairs. They will ignore calls for dialogue and will make it known that they can find partners elsewhere, in Moscow, for example." The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, had had been mediating between the Muslim Brotherhood and the interim government and there was high hope in Brussels of a diplomatic breakthrough to resolve the Egyptian crisis. Ashton also became the first foreign leader to meet the ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on July 30. But Brussels expressed disappointment over the crackdown against Muslim Brotherhood protestors. The Barroso- Van Rompuy statement noted that "we regret deeply that international efforts and proposals for building bridges and establishing an inclusive political process, to which the EU contributed actively, were set aside. " It added that "the violence and the killings of these last days cannot be justified nor condoned." But Leon yesterday softened the EU criticism of the interim government saying that both sides are to blame for the violence. "There are two sides. There is violence coming from all sides. We've been saying very clearly that violence from both sides, from all sides, has to stop, " he said. On his part, British Foreign Secretary William Hague clarified that the UK will not take sides in Egypt. Hague told BBC Radio "we don't agree with military interventions in democratic processes, as we made clear at the time in early July but do we deal with these people as the government of Egypt?... In foreign policy terms these are the people we deal with in power in Egypt; it's not for us to take sides." On its part the Egyptian interim government has brushed off any European threats of cutting aid to Egypt . Foreign minister Nabil Fahmy was quoted saying that "I want to determine what is useful and what is not and what aid is being used to pressure Egypt and whether this aid has good intentions and credibility." " We are 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 warned.