BRUSSELS – The EU’s energy commissioner broke ranks on Monday when he labelled the Egyptian authorities’ handling of mass street democracy protests as careless beyond belief. While European Union foreign ministers meeting at the same time deliberately shied away from criticising President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, focusing on the need for elections, German commissioner Guenther Oettinger spoke bluntly.
“We are all very worried about what is happening in Egypt, with the images” broadcast around the globe “and the numbers dead,” he told reporters during a press conference focused on the EU’s future renewable energies strategy. He said Mubarak’s government had adopted “an incomprehensible strategy, which in my view is not a responsible one.” After six days of a popular revolt, which has seen at least 125 killed and thousands injured, the Egyptian government ordered police back into the streets on Sunday, after a weekend retreat, and extended curfews in big cities.
Oettinger, however, rejected fears that the crisis could impact European oil supplies, underlining that Egypt had “limited” weight on oil markets, although cautioning that markets would react if the troubles spilt over into bigger producing nations in the region. Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), warned Monday that “there could be a real shortage” of crude oil reaching the West, after world oil prices rose to within a whisker of 100 dollars a barrel.
Danish shipping and oil group AP Moeller-Maersk suspended activities in Egypt itself, although it said ships would continue sailing the Suez canal.
