CAIRO - The head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Egypt Marc Franco Thursday said that the EU won't be involved in Egypt's forthcoming elections, whether the parliamentary elections this autumn or the presidential polls next year. Franco added, in a press conference on the occasion of the launching of the local EU presidency in Egypt, that the EU is supporting the civil and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supervising the elections. "We are very interested in following the election process in Egypt, but there will be no international monitoring, because Egypt hasn't asked for it," Franco said. "The elections will be supervised internally by local Egyptian organisations, which we fully support." With Belgium's six-month EU presidency term having started on July 1, boosting relations with Egypt, facilitating the issuance of visas and addressing regional issues with the Egyptian Government are the most important things on the agenda of the EU local presidency, along with following up the election process. Franco met on Wednesday with the spokesman of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Hossam Zaki, and he asked after President Honsi Mubarak's health. He stated that Zaki assured him that Mubarak is in very good health and that he is keeping very busy. "This is not the first time for President Mubarak's health being debatable," Franco added. "Zaki told me Wednesday that Mubarak's health is fine and I believe this could be sensed from the President's many recent activities." Meanwhile, Egyptian Minister of Information Anas el-Feqi said late on Wednesday that the reports about a deterioration in Mubarak's health were false, two days after a US newspaper claimed Mubarak was dying of cancer.
