Westerwelle calls for intelligent diplomacy on Egypt

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Wednesday urged Europe to send a common signal to end violence in Egypt and to adopt well though decisions. "We are meeting today concerning the very distressing developments in Egypt, it is important that Europe sends a strong and common signal for the ending of violence in Egypt. The influence of Europe is for sure limited but it has to be used nevertheless," he told reporters ahead of an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers on Egypt. "We know that Egypt is looking at their own economic developments, they know very well how important Europe is for their economic development and this cannot be compared to one, two or three Gulf states," he said. "Stability can only occur when atrocities end and only when stability is restored can economic development take place, this is something we have to use. I want also to highlight that we are not supporting one specific political group in Egypt, we support democracy and the people that are committed to it, our task is to reinforce moderate voices and people that are in favour of dialogue and compromise," he said. "We have two main tasks today, on the one hand to send a clear message against violence, on the other hand to keep dialogue channels open to influence. It is the moment of intelligent diplomacy and not intense announcements, well thought and measured decisions on behalf of Europe and member states," he added. "We are not on the side of one political group in Egypt, we are on the side of those people who really want to have democracy, who work for a peaceful inclusive solution. Of course after what we saw, business as usual is not possible, but on the other hand it is also important to observe the next steps and the next decisions. What is with the announcement about constitutional process and free and fair elections, we will consider all this before we draw our conclusions," he stated.