CAIRO: Members of the European Union (EU) Troika said Wednesday that their partnership with Egypt was along the lines of cooperation and not interference. The EU Troika comprises the European Commission (EC), the current president of the Union and the coming president. They were represented at a press conference at the Swedish Embassy Wednesday by EC Ambassador to Egypt Klaus Ebermann, Swedish Ambassador Malin Karre and Spanish Ambassador Antonion Lopez Martinez. Sweden assumed the EU Presidency from the beginning of July and Spain will assume the rotating presidency in six months time. Ebermann said, "Nobody is pulling Egypt across the table on anything, this would be counterproductive. We have the action plan . is it going at the pace we would like it to be? This is a question I will not answer today. Karre said, "In a global world we all talk to each other, I don't think it's a question of interfering because any program you do includes close cooperation with your partners. Egypt is part of the European Neighborhood Policy, a program predicated on an action plan which sets agreed upon targets in numerous areas of reform, whether economic or political. "The agenda of the action plan of the European Neighborhood Policy is a joint agenda, not a European one. It is the brainchild of both Egypt and the European Union, Ebermann said. There has been some tension in the past between Egypt and the EU regarding comments on the pace of democratic reform, comments which the government considered to be interference in domestic matters. Karre said, "With partners you can always have an open discussion things, and this is what we are having with Egypt. We have said things and Egypt has said things, we haven't been considered the good one always. The Egypt report of the Neighborhood Policy released last April stated that "Overall, progress on the implementation of the action plan can be summarized as limited but encouraging, with a stronger commitment to social, economic and sector reforms and to a lesser extent on political reforms. Ebermann said at the time of the release of the report, "The report is not commenting on the political situation or the state of reform in Egypt. This is not our role; we are not finger-pointing. The EU is Egypt's biggest trade partner, with the volume of trade doubling in the past four years to reach ?21 billion in 2008.
