The Anti-Coup Alliance said that they met a delegation from the European Parliament in a Cairo hotel on Tuesday.
“A delegation representing the Anti-Coup Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance met with a delegation from the European Union, representing the European Parliament, who arrived in Cairo Sunday evening, on a three-day visit during which they met with a number of officials to discuss the latest developments of the situation in Egypt,” the Anti-Coup Alliance said in a Wednesday statement.
The alliance added that former Minister of Local Development Mohamed Ali Bishr, who is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Amr Farouk, spokesman for the Wasat Party, met with a six-man-delegation from the European Parliament.
“The Alliance felt it was important to hold this meeting with the EU delegation, so we can put forth our full vision with regard to the current crisis in Egypt” said Magdy Salem, a leading member of the National Alliance, in the statement.
Press officer of the European Union delegation in Egypt, Rasha Serry, said, however that “there are no delegations from the European Parliament currently in Egypt”.
Julia Ponce, press counselor of the Spanish Embassy in Cairo, confirmed the presence of a European delegation in Cairo; however, she clarified that it does not belong to the European Union nor the European Parliament.
“The delegation is from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE],” Ponce said, adding that the Spanish ambassador to Egypt, Fidel Sendagorta Gómez del Campillo, took part in the delegation meeting with the alliance. The delegation’s head is Spanish parliament member Jose Maria Beneyto.
PACE is a sub-organisation of the Council of Europe, founded in 1949. It has 47 member states and is separate from the European Union. The headquarters of the Council of Europe is in Strasbourg, France.
