Mubarak warned over European aid

European leaders ratcheted up pressure on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak while warning for the first time that millions of euros in economic aid could be at risk if his regime does not halt violent attacks against anti-government protestors.

In a statement largely shaped by the UK, European Union heads of government used a Brussels summit to call on Egyptian authorities to avoid further violence and meet its people’s aspirations “ with political reform not repression”. Echoing a phrase from US president Barack Obama, they also declared that a transition process to establish a broad-based government “must start now”.

The document does not go beyond calls issued this week by Mr Obama and David Cameron, the British prime minister, but it adds the political weight of the 27-member bloc to their demands for restraint and a swift and orderly change of government.

The US remains locked in discussions with Egyptian political and military leaders to broker an agreement for a transitional government in Cairo in an effort to prevent violence in the country from spinning out of control.

One option under discussion is to persuade Omar Suleiman, vice-president, along with the Egyptian military, to lead a transitional administration until elections can be held, according to the New York Times. Without refuting the story, administration officials said on Friday that many options were under consideration.

“The president has said that now is the time to begin a peaceful, orderly and meaningful transition, with credible, inclusive negotiations,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “We have discussed with the Egyptians a variety of different ways to move that process forward, but all of those decisions must be made by the Egyptian people.”

Especially sensitive in Washington is the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood, view by many on the right in the US solely as a terrorist organisation, in any temporary government.

The administration’s efforts to fashion a solution to the Egypt issue has for the most part received bipartisan support from Republican leaders normally willing to attack Mr Obama on most issues. The White House has so far supported the involvement of so-called “non-secular actors” in any future Egyptian government, without endorsing a role for the Muslim Brotherhood by name.

Pressure is also mounting for the administration to take a firmer line in public on US aid to Egypt in the wake of this week’s street violence. The Working Group on Egypt, a non-partisan body operating out of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Washington think-tank, called for a freeze on all military assistance to Cairo if the violence continued.

“We endorse President Obama’s call for an immediate start to the process of democratic transition and hope that all forces in Egypt committed to that goal meet their responsibilities by joining in this vital effort now,” the group said in a statement.

EU governments at their summit noted that their relationship with Egypt must be based on principles set out in a 2004 bilateral agreement. Under that agreement, the EU provides some €100m-150m in annual aid to Egypt on condition that Cairo pursue economic and democratic reforms.

“The EU has largely delivered on its side of the bargain, but Egypt has not,” said one European diplomat, suggesting that the money could be withdrawn.

Mr Cameron has been in the vanguard of those urging a tough response. People familiar with the behind-closed-doors debate said he insisted on stronger language than that proposed by Lady Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief.

But even as the EU raised its voice, diplomats conceded that its influence may be limited. The sums of money it provides Egypt, for example, are dwarfed by the more than $1bn in military aid poured in by Washington each year. “We have to be realistic: The EU isn’t the solution here,” the diplomat said.

Some leaders veered from the agreed message. On arriving at the summit, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, praised Mr Mubarak’s wisdom and expressed hope that their could be “continuity” in the Egyptian government.

“I hope that in Egypt there can be a transition toward a more democratic system without a break from President Mubarak, who in the west – above all in the United States – is considered the wisest of men and a precise reference point,” he said