Ashton takes flak in EU Parliament for weak statements on Egypt, Tunisia

The EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday told the European Parliament that the political systems in Arab countries such as Egypt have reaced a ‘point of no return’ and that change ‘must come now.’ But several members of the European Parliament told her that her public statement so far had been too weak and not supportive enough of the people protesting on the streets. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Severin (S&D, RO): “We didn’t show enough vision and enough strength in addressing these challenges; this should include also our capacity to talk to all valid actors including the Islamic forces in such a way as to be able to integrate all of them into a positive process.” 00:02’56″ SOUNDBITE (French) Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, BE): “We are scared of putting out the wrong kind of statement, we are scared of an Islamic government after the elections. Well I am not scared because I have trust and faith in the Tunisian and Egyptian peoples (applause). They want democracy and that’s why we see Copts and Muslims are marching in the streets shoulder to shoulder, because they want a real open democracy. When we see demonstrations in Yemen, Jordan, Syria and Algeria, Ms Ashton I call on you now to change the EU’s position. I would like to hear you saying in this chamber that the EU stands 100% behind the Egyptian people and its demands”. 00:03’48″ SOUNDBITE (French) Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Verts/ALE, FR): “Ms Ashton you are calling for calm; now let’s call a spade a spade, here …