CAIRO: Catherine Asthon, the top European Union foreign policy chief, will arrive in Egypt on Saturday for a two-day visit, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. President Mohamed Morsi will meet with Ashton on Sunday, MENA reported European diplomatic sources as saying. Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will also meet with a number of political party leaders including prominent figures in the National Salvation Front. Ashton's discussions in Cairo will focus on the political and economic developments of the democratic transition in Egypt and ways to enhance joint cooperation between Egypt and the European Union. The European Parliament issued a decree last March urging the European Union to abstain from granting aids to Egyptian authorities if there is no notable progress in issues of human rights and freedoms. The decree pointed to what it called pressures from different political powers on the judiciary, adding that these pressures may compromise trust in the integrity of the judiciary. The decree also urged the Egyptian authorities to respect human rights and basic freedoms, to have serious, transparent investigations, and to abolish the death sentence. BN
