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Egypt Rejects European Parliament’s Statement on Presidential Elections

Egyptian Parliament (Facebook)
Egyptian Parliament (Facebook)
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Egypt Rejects European Parliament’s Statement on Presidential Elections

Egyptian Parliament (Facebook)
Egyptian Parliament (Facebook)

The Egyptian Parliament on Friday rejected a European Parliament statement on the country’s upcoming presidential elections, saying it lacks credibility and neutrality.

On Thursday, the European Parliament called in a report for a “review” of the EU’s relations with Egypt. It also urged Egyptian authorities to hold “credible, free and fair elections” and stop “harassing peaceful opposition figures such as aspiring presidential candidates.”

The report sparked a wave of widespread criticism in Egypt, particularly from deputies and politicians who said the statement is based on false information.

Egypt is gearing up for its presidential elections late this year. Voting in Egypt will take place from December 10 to December 12, with Egyptians abroad casting their votes from December 1 to December 3.

In a statement issued Friday, the Egyptian Parliament said the EU’s report lacks objectivity and reveals a predisposition to issue premature judgments about the electoral process.

It then called on the European Parliament to focus its efforts on European affairs, where violations of human rights and freedoms are documented in various reports.

Several Egyptian party leaders, in addition to political and legal officials, rejected the Union’s interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.

Nagi Al-Shihabi, head of the Democratic Generation Party (al-Geel al-Dimuqrati), told Asharq Al-Awsat that the European Parliament statement contains false information aimed at misleading global public opinion, affirming that the Parliament exceeded its limits and powers and interfered in Egyptian affairs.

He affirmed that Egypt’s elections are run by an independent body, the National Electoral Commission, and in accordance with the law, the Constitution and international standards.

Shihabi said it is normal that the European statement triggered wide criticisms in Egypt because Egyptian political parties and civil society are participating in the national dialogue, called for by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, without exclusion.

Meanwhile, Tarek Fahmy, a political science professor at Cairo University, said the timing of the European Parliament is suspicious because it coincides with the announcement of Sisi's candidacy for a new term.

The statement aims to intervene in local affairs and try to spark fears among Egyptian authorities, he said, adding that the statement also aims to change the course of the electoral process.

He then rejected the European Parliament’s “unacceptable interventions” in Egypt’s internal affairs and said it was still early to comment on the elections.

Fahmy then told Asharq Al-Awsat that the European Parliament statement came one-day following demands by lobbyists in Washington and rights groups that US lawmakers withhold a further $235 million in military aid to Egypt.

“I believe there are some European-US arrangements to intervene in Egyptian affairs in one way or another,” he said.

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Varieties

India's Skyroot Aerospace Readies Country's 1st Private Orbital Rocket Launch

FILE PHOTO: Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana, founders of Skyroot Aerospace, pose in front of Vikram-I, India's first private commercial rocket, at the campus of Skyroot Aerospace during the inauguration ceremony of Infinity Campus, India's largest private rocket factory, in Hyderabad, India, November 27, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana, founders of Skyroot Aerospace, pose in front of Vikram-I, India's first private commercial rocket, at the campus of Skyroot Aerospace during the inauguration ceremony of Infinity Campus, India's largest private rocket factory, in Hyderabad, India, November 27, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo
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India's Skyroot Aerospace Readies Country's 1st Private Orbital Rocket Launch

FILE PHOTO: Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana, founders of Skyroot Aerospace, pose in front of Vikram-I, India's first private commercial rocket, at the campus of Skyroot Aerospace during the inauguration ceremony of Infinity Campus, India's largest private rocket factory, in Hyderabad, India, November 27, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Naga Bharath Daka and Pawan Kumar Chandana, founders of Skyroot Aerospace, pose in front of Vikram-I, India's first private commercial rocket, at the campus of Skyroot Aerospace during the inauguration ceremony of Infinity Campus, India's largest private rocket factory, in Hyderabad, India, November 27, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo

Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace said on Thursday it was preparing for the launch of its Vikram-1 rocket, the first attempt by an Indian private company to place a satellite in orbit.

Founded by former Indian Space Research Organization engineers, Skyroot is developing small rockets similar to those built by Rocket Lab and Firefly Aerospace.

The Vikram-1, a seven-stories-tall, multi-stage ⁠launch vehicle, is designed ⁠to carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms into the low Earth orbit, Reuters reported.

Skyroot, which became India's first space startup to reach a $1 billion valuation after raising $60 million from ⁠GIC and Sherpalo Ventures in May, has set a July 12 - August 4 launch window for the maiden flight from the country's main spaceport, the Satish Dhawan Space Center.

The test flight, carrying a mix of domestic and international customers, aims primarily to collect in-flight performance data across propulsion, guidance and stage separation systems, ⁠the ⁠company said.

The launch comes as India opens its state-dominated space sector to private companies, seeking a bigger share of the global market for satellite launches and related services.

Industrial groups such as Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited are also moving into rocket manufacturing as the government pushes to build a $44 billion space economy by 2033.

World

Iran Warns Oil Tankers to Use Approved Routes in Strait of Hormuz or Face a 'Forceful Response'

Two boys stand in shallow water with foam floats as cargo ships and other vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Two boys stand in shallow water with foam floats as cargo ships and other vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
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Iran Warns Oil Tankers to Use Approved Routes in Strait of Hormuz or Face a 'Forceful Response'

Two boys stand in shallow water with foam floats as cargo ships and other vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Two boys stand in shallow water with foam floats as cargo ships and other vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)

Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” again ratcheting up tensions over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies.

The strait, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations to reach a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state television, comes after both US and Iranian diplomats met with mediators on Wednesday in Qatar, The Associated Press said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the US military's Central Command had put out a statement about having a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels,” the Iranian statement said.

It also said the continued presence of US fighter jets over the strait “causes insecurity in this waterway and threatens regional security.”

“Any attempt by the United States to interfere in security matters or any disruptive action in the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a threat to Iran’s national sovereignty and will be met with a rapid and decisive reaction,” the Iranian warning added.

Iran and the United States agreed as part of an interim deal to allow ships to pass without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran insisted it must control the routes of the vessels and later charge fees for passage, upending decades of practice in the waterway.

An effort by Oman and a United Nations agency to launch a new route near Oman’s shore sparked attacks across the Mideast last weekend, highlighting the tensions.

Varieties

Coffee with a View: Tourists Flock to Starbucks Overlooking North Korea

TOPSHOT - A visitor holding a Starbucks cup takes a selfie as he looks at the North Korean side from a South Korean observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo on July 1, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A visitor holding a Starbucks cup takes a selfie as he looks at the North Korean side from a South Korean observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo on July 1, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
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Coffee with a View: Tourists Flock to Starbucks Overlooking North Korea

TOPSHOT - A visitor holding a Starbucks cup takes a selfie as he looks at the North Korean side from a South Korean observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo on July 1, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A visitor holding a Starbucks cup takes a selfie as he looks at the North Korean side from a South Korean observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo on July 1, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

The contrast cannot be starker: selfie-taking tourists sipping coffee at Starbucks -- an icon of globalization and capitalism -- while looking out over reclusive, communist North Korea.

Welcome to Aegibong Starbucks in Gimpo -- less than an hour's drive from South Korea's capital Seoul but a world away from its closed-off northern neighbor less than two kilometers (1.2 miles) across the Han river.

Perched on a hilltop beneath the Aegibong Peace Ecopark observatory where telescopes peek into the secluded state, the shop has drawn tens of thousands from South Korea and abroad since opening in November 2024.

Kim Jong-hyun, who lives in San Diego and was visiting South Korea with his family, said it was the irony of the contrast that drew him to the hilltop.

"When I heard there was a Starbucks here, I naturally thought I had to come and see it for myself. It's quite unusual," he told AFP.

Customers need to book ahead to enter the park that houses the coffee house.

They then travel from a parking lot in a shuttle operated by park authorities and cross a military checkpoint guarded by armed South Korean marines.

The journey is part of the experience -- walking the last stretch inside South Korea while looking out on agricultural and mountain landscapes in a country whose outside image the government under Kim Jong Un seeks to manage entirely.

Very few foreign journalists or tourists -- mainly from allies Russia and China -- can enter North Korea, and then under tightly controlled conditions.

South and North Korea are technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

The nations are separated by an ironically-named Demilitarized Zone.

The South, an important US security ally, rose from the ruins of war to become an advanced economy home to Samsung Electronics and other tech giants.

But the North -- ruled with an iron fist by a third-generation leader -- is crippled by sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

- 'On a different scale' -

James Seymour, an Irish tourist, told AFP the scene from the lookout point was one of "polar opposites."

"We're from Belfast and we're kind of used to war... the Troubles and all that if you know what I mean," he said, referring to the sectarian conflict that gripped Northern Ireland in the late 20th century.

But standing near the border, sipping coffee from a global chain while looking at the North's nondescript low-rise buildings, was "on a different scale completely", he said.

"You couldn't get any more American than Starbucks and you couldn't get any further than America, you know... North Korea."

The number of visitors to Aegibong Peace Ecopark has more than doubled since the Starbucks opened, according to figures provided by park management.

The number of foreign visitors last year rose 275 percent to 56,829 from a year earlier, with Chinese tourists accounting for the largest share, nearly a third.

Lee Chun-woo of the Gimpo Cultural Foundation, which oversees the park, told AFP the increase was "totally attributable to the Starbucks store".

- 'Death to Communism' -

Starbucks Korea said it chose the setting for the "scenic confluence of the Han and Imjin rivers" that offer visitors a "unique place to relax amid nature".

In a statement to AFP, it did not mention the proximity of the 136-square-meter (1,464 square foot) store to North Korea.

But Chung Yong-jin, chairman of the Shinsegae Group that operates Starbucks Korea under a licensing agreement, has been more vocal about the South's secretive neighbor.

In several Instagram posts -- all of which he has since deleted -- Chung used the phrase "Death to Communism" multiple times.

"Whenever North Korea fired missiles, investors pulled their money out," Chung said in a 2022 social media post explaining his comments.

He described himself as "a business owner and as a South Korean citizen who lives with the daily uncertainty of not knowing when a missile might strike" his country.

"To some people, Death to Communism is a political slogan. To me, it's reality," said Chung.