Angry Egypt cancels talks with EU officials

By Alaa Shahine

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has cancelled talks with senior European Union officials after the bloc criticized the Arab country's human rights record, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Egyptian analysts and rights activists said the government overreacted by cancelling the talks, which were due to cover a range of political issues including democracy and human rights.

But they said the squabble was unlikely to have longer-term repercussions, in part because issues such as trade ties were more important to both sides. The EU is Egypt's biggest trade partner. It accounts for nearly 43 percent of Egyptian imports and 31 percent of exports, including natural gas, according to the EU's website.

The spat arose after a European Parliament resolution, passed on Thursday, called on Egypt "to end all forms of harassment, including judicial measures, detention of media professionals and, more generally, human rights defenders and activists".

It also called for the immediate release of opposition politician Ayman Nour and for a change in the law on military courts, which critics say Egyptian authorities have sometimes used against the government's political opponents.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the resolution had created a "tense atmosphere" that made holding the two-day meeting of the EU-Egypt Subcommittee on Political Matters "at this stage inappropriate". The talks were had been due to take place in Cairo on Wednesday and Thursday.

Some Egyptian lawmakers called for ties with the European Parliament to be suspended.

Local and international human rights groups say torture is systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. They also criticize the government for cracking down on political dissidents, journalists and bloggers who oppose its policies. Cairo denies systematic human rights violations.