MB Parliamentary Bloc Meets With EU Delegation

A delegation of the Muslim Brotherhood parliamentary bloc- headed by Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim- the MB bloc’s deputy chief-received, last Wednesday evening, a delegation from the Socialist Group in the European Parliament headed by Mrs. Bascolina Bolitanu the Vice Chairman of the Group.


The MB bloc deputy leader welcomed the European delegation which is currently visiting Egypt, and have presented a number of items of the election program according to which the Muslim Brotherhood ran for the last parliamentary elections in 2005, the most prominent of which are: freedom is one of the rules of Islam, people are the source of power, and that citizens have the same rights and same duties regardless of their race or creed, and also the separation between powers is the only guarantee to improve the country, and activating the civil society organizations and giving every political group the right to form parties.


The MB bloc’s deputy leader stressed that the Muslim Brotherhood rejects violence and it hasn’t been convicted in any violence case since 1974; around the latest incidents that Al-Azhar University witnessed, the top MP said that the group declared- from the beginning- its rejection to such a method, and that the students had enough courage to apologize for a 6-minute sportive performance that was presented within framework of a sit-in they staged in protest at the situations that the universities are witnessing, as no student elections have been held in any Egyptian university for several years.


Concerning their attitude towards the Copts and woman, the bloc deputy leader confirmed that the rights of the Copts are guaranteed within framework of a complete citizenship including the religious, civilian and political rights; this is according to the well-known rule “they have the same rights like us and have the same duties like us”.


As for women, they have the full rights like men; also, the group nominated Mrs. Gihan Al Halafawi in 2000 elections and Dr. Makarem Al Diary in 2005 elections; however, the authorities blocked them from becoming members of parliament despite the court rulings that prove their rights to be MPs.


For his part, Dr. Hamdi Hassan- the MB bloc’s media spokesman told Ikhwanweb that “Meeting the European delegation comes within framework of its visit to Egypt and its meetings with a number of political powers and within framework of the MB bloc’s conviction of the importance of parliamentary and popular diplomacy in communications between peoples and that dialogue is the best way for bringing closer viewpoints around conflicting problems.


It is worth mentioning that the MB bloc’s delegation was headed by Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, and included Dr. Hamdi Hassan, engineer Saad Al Husseini the assistant secretary-general of the bloc, Dr. Hazem Farouk, Dr. Abdul Fattah Hassan, Dr. Ahmed Diab, while the delegation of the European group included Mrs. Bascolina Bolitanu the Vice Chairman of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Michel Rocard the ex-French Prime Minister, and the MPs Hans Soubouda and Jan Marinos, in addition to Michael Ryan, the European Commission member.