Nieuws

Een column van de Internationaal secretaris van de PvdA, Kirsten Meijer, over de politieke crisis in Egypte uitgesproken op de Egypte bijeenkomst op 9 juli georganiseerd door de FMS.

Dr. Mohamed Aboulghar, the Chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) , held a meeting with the diplomatic representatives of France, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the EU to discuss the current events in Egypt and the Party’s position.

On July 2nd, the Egyptian army issued a 48 hour-ultimatum and warned that it will intervene if the ‘demands of the people are not met.’ A few hours later helicopters carrying huge Egyptian flags flew over the Egyptian capital and other cities. President Mohammed Morsi has rejected the ultimatum, saying it will only sow confusion. ‘Obviously we feel this is a military coup, but the conviction is that the coup won’t be able to move forward without American approval.’

On June 26 the Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned in a widely broadcasted speech that polarization was threatening the country’s democratic process. He also acknowledged he had made some ‘mistakes’, and offered opponents a say in amending the new constitution. The speech comes days before the planned massive demonstration on June 30, the day will mark a year since Morsi won the Presidential elections.

Between June 7th and June 9th the European Forum, in cooperation with the Alfred Mozer Stichting, the UK Labour Party and the Al-Sindyan Institute organized for the first time a Future Leaders Training for 24 young and promising participants from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Amman, Jordan. The participants came from social democratic and left progressive parties from Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.