The European Council on Foreign Relations

The European Union is getting stronger on Egypt

Date: 4th February 2011  |  Author: Anthony Dworkin,

Categories: Rule of law, democracy and human rights, Europe and the world, Wider Europe,
Tags: ashton, eu, europe, tunisia, egypt

The European Council – made up of EU president Herman van Rompuy and the EU27 heads of state – came out with a statement on Egypt after its summit meeting this morning. 

Encouragingly, the statement is the strongest thing the EU has yet said on Egypt.  As the biggest five member states had said yesterday, the Council underlined that the transition to a broad-based government should begin now.  Moreover, the Council went further than the EU has yet done to endorse the cause of the protesters: it saluted the peaceful and dignified expression of aspirations which are in accord with the values that the EU tries to promote for itself and the world. 

The many people who have hoped for Baroness Ashton to take a higher profile in the crisis will note with excitement that she appears to be planning a visit to Cairo as well as Tunis.  There is also a welcome emphasis on the EU’s determination to help the transition to democracy and a promise of “more effective support in the future to those countries which are pursuing political and economic reforms including through the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean”.  Could that mean that the EU is finally about to get serious about supporting political reform in its relationships across the Mediterranean region?  Here’s hoping so.

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