EU officials meet on Monday to discuss Egypt

EU ambassadors will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Egypt, the EU's foreign service known as the European External Action Service has announced. It said in a twitter message that foreign ministers of the 28-member European bloc may also hold a meeting soon to discuss Egypt. EU High Representative Catherine Ashton Friday night in a statement said she has been in constant touch with European Union Foreign Ministers, and has asked EU Member State representatives to debate and coordinate "appropriate measures" to be taken by the European Union in response to the situation in Egypt. The EU together with the US had been engaged in diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Egypt. Ashton met with the ousted President Mohamed Morsi in late July, the first foreign leader allowed to meet him. However analysts say these efforts have apparently failed and now the EU might resort to put pressure on the interim government by stopping aid and put sanctions on it. Denmark has announced that it is stopping two projects in Egypt and the Netherlands has cut off aid to Egypt. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has been reported saying that the EU should review its aid to Egypt. The EU has pledged about five billion euros in loans and grants for Egypt for 2012-2013 but very little of the money has been delivered till now. In a statement on Friday, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called for the EU's foreign ministers to meet as soon as next week "to take stock of cooperation between the European Union and Egypt, and to develop common responses."