Brussels, Feb 2 (DPA) The European Union Wednesday advised President Hosni Mubarak to react to the protests in Egypt ‘as quickly as possible’, but stopped short of asking him to relinquish power immediately.
Mubarak’s pledge late Tuesday not to stand for re-election in September has not calmed down protesters asking for his immediate ouster.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said that on Monday the bloc called for ‘transition’ and ‘transformation’.
‘Those are words with a sense of urgency to them, and we are calling upon Mubarak to do things as quickly as possible in order that people can see that they have been responded to,’ she said.
Ashton was speaking at a news conference in Brussels with the new foreign minister of Tunisia, Ahmed Ouneies, who was sworn in after the popular revolt against president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Ouneies said Tunisia – whose successful uprising has inspired protests in Egypt – ‘had no lessons to teach’, but he wished Egyptians ‘good luck’ and expressed hope for their ‘reconciliation’.
