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Slammed for doing too little too late as unrest unfurls on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, European Union leaders condemned violence “in the strongest terms” and urged restraint in Egypt’s “orderly transition.”

“This transition process must start now,” they added in Europe’s toughest joint response to the turmoil in Egypt.

As “departure day” protesters massed in Egypt to demand President Hosni Mubarak stand down, British Prime Minister David Cameron said “today’s peaceful demonstrations have shown I hope a yearning for democratic rights”.

“Once transition begins, Europe should move fast to support it,” he said. “This is not happening in some far flung part of world” but in “Europe’s backyard.”

Under attack from European parliamentarians and rights groups for lagging behind the United States and putting security interests ahead of concerns for democracy, the joint EU statement also issued a veiled threat of suspending aid. Though well below US assistance, EU aid amounts to almost half a billion euros ($610 million) in the current three-year period.

The new EU stand was issued at a summit originally scheduled to discuss energy, but hijacked by the crisis in Egypt.

“Egypt should be taking steps to show there is a clear, credible, transparent path towards transition,” Cameron said. “Frankly the steps taken so far haven’t met the aspirations of the Egyptian people.”

Debate over how to respond to events in Egypt was “lively,” according to one diplomat, with Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi hoping for a painless handover that would bring no bad future surprises, a prospect lurking in the back of leaders’ minds. Asked at a closing news conference whether Europe feared extremists might step into Mubarak’s shoes, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: “The risk may exist but one can’t turn one’s back on aspirations because there’s a risk.”

“We must avoid interfering,” he said.

The protests across the Arab world have unleashed a separate storm within the EU, with the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, English baroness Catherine Ashton, taking much of the flak for failing to give strong impetus to EU diplomacy.

She found an ally in small Belgium, with Prime Minister Yves Leterme calling for “Europe to speak with one voice, Mrs. Ashton’s voice”.

This week, the bloc’s five biggest members issued a joint call for an immediate transition in Egypt days before the 27 met.

“My conception of Europe is not that its 27 heads of state and government need to keep quiet because we’re lucky enough to have Mrs. Ashton,” countered Sarkozy when asked what he thought of her role.
Responding to criticism that Europe in the past backed authoritarian regimes in the region as a bulwark against Islamist extremists, the leaders pledged to turn a page in its foreign policy thinking.
EU leaders were “committed to a new partnership involving more effective support in the future to those countries which are pursuing political and economic reforms,” their statement said.

Both Cameron and Sarkozy said commitments made by recipients of EU aid had not been met.

“I believe we need to look again at our approach to this,” said the British premier, calling for a rethink about “using our leverage, our money and our influence.”
The leaders said in their statement that in the future the bloc would be lending “full support” to Tunisia and Egypt in their move towards democratic governance and economic prosperity.
The uprising of both peoples were “in accord with the values the European Union promotes for itself and throughout the world.”

Critics say the EU has been waiving its commitments to democracy and human rights in the interests of stability in the Middle East.

“Europe believed in a strategy of small steps where economic development progressively would bring democratic reform,” said Tunisian academic Azam Majoub. “This model is dead in the water.”

“The fight against terrorism has led European leaders to shore up regimes whose legitimacy is compromised,” said Alvaro de Vasconcelos, who heads the Institute for Security Studies.-AFP