Egyptian politicians and public figures are pursuing discussions with their European counterparts regarding foreign affairs, in the wake of criticism mounting against Egypt as the murder case of Italian student Giulio Regeni drags on.
A delegation from the Free Egyptians Party (FEP), including party founder and business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, party president Essam Khalil, and party representatives of Egyptians abroad Nader Sharkawy, travelled Monday to Italy, where they are scheduled to meet with an Italian MP.
“The discussions will tackle Egyptian-Italian strategic relations, which we cannot allow to deteriorate,” FEP’s spokesperson Shehab Waguih told Daily News Egypt. Waguih said earlier, during a Monday press conference, that the delegation is expected to meet the head of the foreign affairs committee of the Italian parliament.
This comes three days after Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt for “consultation” in the Regeni case, following a meeting between Egyptian and Italian prosecution officials that might have produced unsatisfying results.
On another note, an official parliamentary delegation headed Monday to Strasbourg in France to meet with members of the European Parliament. The delegation is headed by MP Ahmed Saeed and is composed of 12 other members.
The European Parliament issued an urgent resolution earlier in March, highlighting the case of Regeni and widening the scope of criticism to highlight other violations against human rights and freedom of speech in Egypt.
“The resolution contained wrong information based on incorrect perceptions of the situation inside Egypt. As so the real image needs to be reflected about human rights in Egypt,” read an official statement by the parliament.
The Egyptian parliament strongly rejected what it referred to as ”foreign interference in internal affairs and disrespect of state sovereignty”.
