The European Union does not have the authority to assess the Egyptian state’s handling of Copts and Muslim-Coptic relations, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said today.
In statements to the press today, Abul Gheit said Coptic issues are strictly an internal matter.
Abul Gheit added that some European politicians, especially those who belong to the right, have expressed positions that serve to bolster their status in their own countries, following an attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria that left 23 people dead.
“We will not accept the use of incidents in Egypt as a pretext for any politician in the West to bolster his or her position,” he went on. “This is entirely rejected, and we will not allow them that.”
“The fact that some western officials, particularly in the EU, have taken upon themselves the responsibility for Christians in the Middle East could cause matters to become more complicated and it raises questions about the very nature of the EU,” Abul Gheit said.
He added that this approach by the EU feeds the impression that the EU is a Christian club and must remain as such.
These premises are flawed and threaten coexistence, the foreign minister added. “I hope European politicians who adopt this approach will review their positions.”
Poland's Foreign Ministry said four European governments have asked the EU's foreign policy chief to take up the issue of recent attacks against Christians.
The ministry’s spokesman Marcin Bosacki told the Associated Press on Friday that the foreign ministers of Poland, Italy, France and Hungary sent a joint letter to Catherine Ashton suggesting that the EU "look into" the recent "wave of attacks on Christians."
Bosacki refused to disclose further details.
