International

SP European and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel is urging Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to insist on the suspension of the Association Agreement between the EU and Egypt. ‘First the demonstrators must be free to demonstrate and elementary freedoms such as the freedom of expression must be respected,’ said Van Bommel, who was responding to the protests in Egypt against the Mubarak government and for political freedoms.

The power of President Mubarak, who recently won fraudulent elections by a large margin, is waning. “The time of structural inequality and oppression in the Arab world appears to be coming to an end,” said Van Bommel. “The revolution in Tunisia has given the people of other countries courage. We must give that our support.”
Van Bommel urged suspension of the Association Agreement between the EU and Egypt, an accord which is extremely profitable for the Egyptian elite and for EU corporations. “First the Egyptian people must live in a truly democratic land before European countries and corporations can carry on making profits there. Then the question must be looked into of whether these Association Agreements really have helped the people of the Middle East in respect of democratisation. The time now seems to have come for democratic relations in Egypt and for a fair Association Agreement with the EU based on them.”