Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 3 July 2013 - Strasbourg

Situation in Egypt (debate)

  John Attard-Montalto (S&D), in writing. – The Egyptian army has removed President Morsi, suspended parliament, and appointed the Chief Justice to head an interim government. The country is divided between the followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and its opponents. The facts of the issue are: 1) a year ago Morsi was democratically elected president on the platform of the Muslim Brotherhood; 2) since then, the country has faced instability in many factors; 3) politically divided recurrent clashes have lead to deaths and the country is approaching civil war. On the one hand there is national unity and stability, on the other a democratically elected president. The wider region is extremely volatile. Libya’s stability is continually challenged. Syria is in chaos with a threat of spillage into Lebanon and possibly Jordan. Iran is involved in its nuclear ambitions whilst Iraq is virtually in civil war. All these, not to mention the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Egypt is seen as the regional power and this is an essential consideration when evaluating whether the army made the right decision in removing a democratically elected president.