Civil society was heavily restricted under Hosni Mubarak's rule, and many of those who overthrew him in 2011 are demanding guarantees of greater freedom for civic and political activity to help Egypt complete the transition to popular democracy that the Arab Spring seemed to promise. But rights activists say a bill backed by President Mohamed Morsi's allies in the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, is even more restrictive than the rules of the past. "There is a great deal of concern on all sides that the time that is needed might not be taken," James Moran, head of the EU delegation in Cairo. "An essential part of what we consider to be deep democracy is a free, open, transparent civil society," he said. "And since civil society played such an important part in the revolution in this country, ... we think that this is something that is worth spending some real quality time on." Despite Mubarak's fall, restrictions on civil society have remained a source of friction with Western states that help to finance non-government organisations working on human rights and economic, social and political development. Last year, under the temporary rule of the army generals who assumed power from Mubarak, a probe into the work of international NGOs, some of them U.S.-based, sparked a crisis in ties between the United States and Egypt. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said this week the Obama administration had "real concerns about the direction that Egypt appears to be moving in", citing recent arrests, street violence and a "lack of inclusivity with respect to the opposition". The Freedom and Justice Party last year put forward a civil society bill that was praised by human rights activists. But that chamber, which it controlled, was dissolved in June.
