Premier België ziet gebeurtenissen Egypte als test voor nieuwe diplomatieke dienst EU (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Belgian caretaker Prime Minister Yves Leterme i has said that events in Egypt are a "true test" for the EU's new diplomatic service in remarks to press ahead of an EU summit on Friday (4 February).
Asked by media outside the main EU Council building in Brussels if EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton i can be trusted to take the lead on EU-Egypt diplomacy, Mr Leterme said: "This is a true test. One should give Madame Ashton the political space so that she can react in the name of the European Union."
Mr Leterme underlined that the Belgian EU presidency late last year gave its full support to Ms Ashton's new-born European External Action Service (EEAS).
"People have to understand the new reality," he added, in reference to the transfer of powers from EU capitals to Brussels ushered in by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.
Ms Ashton herself on Friday explained that she is in close contact by telephone with Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman, widely tipped to take over if or when President Hosni Mubarak steps down.
She reported that Mr Suleiman on Thursday night told her he is creating three new committees to deal with the crisis - a committee on economic issues, another on constitutional matters and a third on public order. Placing her trust in Mr Suleiman, she said "there seems to be some movement toward a national dialogue."
She urged Egyptian authorities to: "keep people safe, to make sure that violence does not break out again and that the army plays its proper role."
Asked if Mr Mubarak's defiance on TV on Thursday against calls to resign immediately had irked her or her EU colleagues, she said Egyptian authorities must put forward "a timetable [for political reform] that gives confidence to people that things are going to change."
With the 11-day-long Egyptian protests coming to a crisis on Friday in a planned march on the presidential palace, EU leaders are issuing direct appeals over Ms Ashton's head.
Biritsh PM David Cameron i said while entering the EU Council: "Frankly, the steps taken so far haven't met the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
"If we see violence on the streets of Cairo today or the hiring of thugs to beat up protesters, then the Egyptian regime would lose any support and credibility it has in the eyes of the watching world, including Britain," he added, after attacks by pro-Mubarak militias claimed fresh lives on the eve of the EU meeting.
For their part, EU Council head Herman Van Rompuy i and EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso i tried to keep the original summit agenda on track by underlining the importance of talks on EU energy security and economic governance.
On Egypt, Mr Van Rompuy said in welcoming remarks to leaders: "Over luncheon ... we will talk about the democratic breakthrough in Tunisia and in Egypt. There is a powerful dynamic at work and the events have powerful implications for the region and for us." Mr Barroso declined to take questions on Egypt in his doorstep remarks to press.