CAIRO: As rotating head of the Council of the European Union, Poland will support democratization across the Arab world, EU diplomats said at a press conference in Zamalek on Wednesday. “We have to be there to accompany the process of change,” said Ambassador Marc Franco, head of EU delegation to Egypt. On July 1, Poland began its six-month stint as president of the Council, one of the EU's two main legislative bodies. The presidency rotates every six months among governments in the 27-state union, and this is the first time that Poland has held such a role since it joined the union in 2004. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton will continue to direct external affairs, but Poland has assumed a larger role in determining the internal direction of the institution. Polish Ambassador to Egypt Piotr Puchta said that the new leadership's “neighborhood policy” will emphasize “assisting in reforms in Southern Neighborhood” and “supporting quality change in EU relations with Southern neighbors.” The EU has focused on improving communication with the Arab world as it engages with the political developments across the region. Two weeks ago, Spanish diplomat Bernardino Leon was nominated to serve as the EU envoy to North Africa. And the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, will visit Cairo for a two-day visit on July 14, during which he will meet with military authorities, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, and religious leaders, according to Franco. Franco said that, following the popular movements across the region, EU diplomats are seeking “a relationship with the society … beyond a relationship government to government.” “This relationship should aim at strengthening democracy,” he said. He said that the EU has already been cooperating with Egypt as the nation finds its footing in the wake of the popular protests that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. He affirmed that EU nations are in the process of freezing assets belonging to Mubarak and 11 other former Egyptian officials as per Egypt's request. Franco also said that the EU has repeatedly offered to monitor the upcoming Egyptian elections scheduled for September. “The government has assured us that the monitoring through the judiciary is considered to be effective enough,” Franco said, noting that the EU has continued to offer its services to supplement the government's internal monitoring system. The Polish leadership also hopes to build a special relationship with Egypt and other North African countries around what Puchta described as their shared experiences of democratic transformation. The Poles will support separate Polish and Oriental music concerts in the fall and plan to host a three-day seminar in November on Poland's democratization process. Puchta explained that the logo for Poland's presidency — which features a collection of colorful stick figures holding hands and waving the Polish flag — was designed by the same man who created the logo for Solidarity, the 1980 Polish labor union that would lead nation-wide efforts towards democracy a decade later. “Only 22 years ago, Poland became a fully-democratic sovereign state,” Puchta said Wednesday, comparing Poland's transformation with the political developments in Egypt. “You will find in Poland a partner that is willing to speak with all the political parties here,” he said. “Once you decide to step on the tracks of democracy, you should not leave.”
