STRASBOURG, France, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Egyptian democracy needs to be supported by different political views in a future government, the Greek foreign minister told the European Parliament.
Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Evangelos Venizelos told members of the European Parliament the ratification of a new Egyptian Constitution last month was a step in the right direction in terms of democratic evolution.
Venizelos, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, said there were also troubling developments on the Egyptian political stage.
"The lack of a truly representative drafting process and the lack of political space for dissenting opinion is extremely worrying, and so is the challenging environment for freedoms of assembly and expression," he said in his statement Wednesday.
Egyptians voted in favor of a constitution designed to replace the one drafted during Mohamed Morsi's presidency. The Egyptian military removed Morsi from power last year amid frustration with policies aligned with his political backers, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Morsi in 2012 became the first president elected by a democratic vote in Egyptian history. The Muslim Brotherhood said his ouster was a military coup.
Egyptian Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was endorsed to run for president in eventual elections later this year.
"It is clear that, for the future stability of Egypt, these elections should lead to a democratically elected president and a fair representation of different political views in the future parliament," Venizelos said.
