EU leaders call for reform

EUROPE’S leaders delivered a warning to the Egyptian authorities yesterday to answer their people with “political reform, not repression”.

As protests continued in central Cairo a statement agreed at an EU summit stopped short of calling on President Hosni Mubarak to step aside.

Instead it challenged the regime to honour the terms of a £150 million-a-year (€177m) EU Association Agreement, under which Egypt is committed to push through political and economic reforms in return for trade concessions and financial aid.