The Freedom and Justice Party Views on Current Events

The Freedom and Justice Party Views on Current Events

As the Egyptian people patiently wait for stability, security, social development and economic progress, the current government fails to deliver. Meanwhile, Egyptian media spreads the news – in often contradictory reports – on the position of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) regarding likely candidates for the presidency. Further, the formation of the Constituent Assembly (CA), to be entrusted with drafting the Egyptian Constitution, reaches its final stages. Moreover, on the Arab and international levels, the brutal Syrian regime’s bloody war machine continues to massacre the defenseless Syrian people before the eyes and ears of the world, as Gaza Strip suffer a major electricity and energy crisis which exacerbates the siege and strangulation of more than a million and a half million citizens. In this statement, the FJP details its views regarding these and other issues.

 

First, on the domestic level:

 

• The FJP denounces the continuation of the current government after its repeated and evident failure in the management of affairs of the country on all political, economic, social and security levels. Furthermore, the FJP stresses that this government has so far accomplished nothing to convince the Egyptian people and MPs in the People’s Assembly and Shura Council that it should indeed remain in power, especially after failing to provide the public with gasoline and diesel supplies, in addition to its utter failure in solving the problem of Butane gas cylinders or that of persistently rising prices for all kinds of commodities and the requirements of living. Needless to say, the security situation is not any more encouraging. In fact, it has not seen any progress in restoring law and order or the elimination of lawlessness, not to mention the Port Said crisis, which illustrated the government’s complete confusion, incompetence and ineptness. Even on the international level, the bungling and stumbling approach in the scandal of fleeing defendants – in the NGO foreign funding case – is evidence that the government has nothing to offer the Egyptian people but more trouble, crises and problems. The FJP, therefore, emphasizes the need for the majority represented in the People’s Assembly and Shura Council to form a coalition government that assumes responsibility before Parliament, and which can do its part effectively, especially since there are many crises and obstacles that the current government is clearly intent on bequeathing to the next government.

 

• The People’s Assembly and Shura Council, on Saturday 24 March 2012, will select the 100 members of the Constituent Assembly to be tasked with drawing up the new Egyptian Constitution. The FJP asserts that its Parliamentary Commissions in the People’s Assembly and Shura Council are determined for the Constituent Assembly to represent all intellectual and political persuasions, as well as all sectors and denominations of the Egyptian society, in writing the new Constitution, including youth and women, in addition to Copts, who are a key partner in this homeland.

 

• The FJP reiterates that it has no reservation against dealing with the IMF or any other international institution where Egypt is a member. The FJP would certainly accept any help from these institutions in any way that would serve public interests, especially in implementing plans for developing Egyptian economy and achieving the hoped-for growth. This, however, does not mean that the party has made a final decision on the loan requested by the current government from the IMF, because the party does not have the necessary information about the real requirements of Egypt’s general budget. The government has not made the essential effort to find alternatives, to foreign borrowing, that would not increase the burden of public debt and the cost of economic and social development. It has not explained how this loan will be used, or how it will be paid off. Hence, the FJP cannot reach a final decision that would fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the Egyptian people without overburdening them with social and economic costs.

 

Second, on the regional and international level:

 

• The FJP calls on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to speed up action in relevant international forums to take strict decisions against the brutal massacres committed by the Syrian regime’s brutal security and military forces against the noble Syrian People, who face Assad’s bloody war machine on its own, amid weak international response against this tyrannical repressive regime’s war crimes. The FJP stresses that states rejecting actions intended to prevent such atrocities, such as Russia and China, and used their so-called veto in the Security Council, have to bear their historic responsibilities in the killing and torture of women and children and the elderly as well as hundreds of men who are murdered every day.

 

• The FJP stresses that effective concrete steps must be taken at both popular and official levels to lift the siege imposed on Gaza Strip, especially with regard to diesel and other fuel crises, which increases the suffering of the people in Gaza. Furthermore, the FJP believes it is not right, under any circumstances, for the embargo to continue after the Egyptian Revolution that has a clear position against the corrupt former regime’s stance with regard to the Gaza blockade.