Dina Ezzat examines the outcome of Mubarak's European tour The four-stop European trip by President Hosni Mubarak this week was meant to introduce a balance in Egypt's relations with the West, one which Cairo has on-and-off tried to prevent from falling totally on the side of the US especially in view of the declining warmth in Cairo-Washington rapport recently. More urgently, the trip aimed to strike a balance between the will and concerns of the international community in relation to the Middle East and the hopes and expectations of the countries of the region, especially the Arab and Muslim world. On Thursday, Mubarak arrived in Rome for talks with the Italian president and prime minister on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues that covered economic and legal cooperation as well as developments in the region, with special attention paid to growing signs of civil war in Iraq, the so far unsuccessful attempts to end fighting in Darfur and the growing confrontation between Iran and the Western world over Tehran's desire to master civil nuclear abilities. In ensuing stops in Berlin, Vienna and the Vatican, Mubarak covered the same issues as well as the future of dialogue between Arab- Muslim countries and the West and the need to enhance dialogue around the Mediterranean region in the framework of the Barcelona Process for cooperation. Egypt, diplomats say, is upset by the heavy- handed approach by Western intervention in the region. They add that while Egypt is not trying to ignore the current power play in international relations that allows the West, especially the US, to have a say in regional affairs, Mubarak told his European interlocutors that there is a limit to how much the peoples of the region would accept interference or would allow their governments to accommodate the demands of the West. Sources say Mubarak made clear warnings during the trip over the "heavy political price" the West would pay if it keeps trying to twist the arm of the Arab and Muslim countries the way it has been. The president, they assert, warned that the harsher the West gets with the Arab and Muslim countries, the more this would prompt the peoples of the region to embrace the ideology of political Islamist groups. Mubarak, who is known in all Western quarters as a man of "reason and sensibility", as one Cairo-based European diplomat said, told his European interlocutors they have a role to play in encouraging Washington to be more sensitive to the growing anger in the Arab world, and the sensitivities the Arab and Muslim peoples are developing in relation to the obvious double standards. In the words of one Egyptian diplomat, Mubarak often used the situation of Iran and Darfur to cite examples. "He said it loud and clear during the press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel: 'we cannot talk about only Iran's nuclear commitment. We have to talk about the region in its entirety. We also have to talk about Israel'". At the end of the trip, Mubarak was reportedly confident that the message was well received. According to presidential spokesman Suleiman Awaad, who accompanied Mubarak during the tour, "Mubarak succeeded in convincing the Europeans that it is best to give the dialogue, conducted between Iran and the European troika, the chance to allow for a settlement based on transparency on the Iranian side and flexibility on the European side." Mubarak also warned that a forced international presence in Darfur would agitate the peoples of the region "not just in Sudan". The source said Mubarak told European officials: "Look at what is going in Iraq. We warned you. Our people are asking us, is this going to be the fate of all Arab and Muslim countries?" According to Awaad the fate of Darfur and the ability of the international community to settle the dispute will be discussed by the president and Omar Al-Bashir, president of Sudan, and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi when they meet within the next few days. The outcome of Mubarak's Western discussions on regional issues, which also included the need for European political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority -- that Egypt is stressing should not be trapped between Hamas and international pressure -- and the future of relations between the West and Syria, will be shared with other Arab leaders during the Arab summit scheduled to convene on 28 March in Khartoum. Meanwhile, in press statements made during his tour that ended on Monday, Awaad said Mubarak dedicated considerable attention to the need to promote economic cooperation between Egypt and the European countries concerned. "We have excellent political relations and we should be able to match this profound political rapport with equally solid economic cooperation," Awaad said.
