European Union to Offer Egypt Help With Transition
The European Union will offer Egypt economic and political assistance for its transition to a broad- based government, foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said, while cautioning that the process will take time.
“The challenge with Egypt is to work out how to get that process moving effectively so that there is both an end point that people believe in, and a process that people believe in,” Ashton told reporters at the United Nations in New York.
Ashton said the EU was prepared to provide experts to help draft a new constitution, organize elections, develop the “capacity to provide information for people” and invigorate Egypt’s economy.
The goal, she said, is to “build the kind of society that enables open and fair elections to take place, with the best possible information, with political parties operating effectively, and with no intimidation or fear.”
Earlier, Ashton became the first diplomat or official to raise the issue of the unrest in Egypt in the UN Security Council since the protests in Cairo and other cities began.
“Our position is clear: the democratic aspirations of citizens must be met through dialogue, genuine political reform and free and fair elections that are well-prepared,” Ashton told the Security Council.
Ashton told reporters that the EU’s position is that the political transition should be “quick and that it moves forward meaningfully.” She added that it will “take a little bit of time and a lot of support.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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