mr president france of course nurtured the ayatollah khomeini and flew him back to tehran
but on another issue egypt has been a republic since nineteen fifty-six but mubarak is only the country's third president
in tunisia ben ali was only the second leader since independence fifty-three years ago
when the political landscape offers such little hope of change inevitably frustrations boil over as we now see with the hurricane of change blowing across the region
my group the ecr group calls for a genuinely democratic and peaceful transition in egypt
today we see a worrying trend towards violence
it is hard to see how mubarak can credibly play a role in that transition other than by stepping down
tunisia also remains in ferment and the longer that lasts the greater the danger that islamists will seize the political initiative
tunisia may have been authoritarian and corrupt but it was profoundly secular and pro-western we must remember that
indeed this is also a danger in egypt where the islamist muslim brotherhood is seeking to fill the political vacuum as we speak
the radicalisation of egyptian politics would be a disaster for that country and for neighbouring israel
but it could also have grave implications for the operation of the suez canal
the eu's diplomatic efforts in tunisia and egypt must be focused entirely on ensuring stability and order and resisting those who would wish to spread violence and fear as we see today
to build a liberal democracy in these countries with no such traditions the eu the usa and our political think-tanks in europe must now place significant resources behind moderate democratic politicians and new parties who must be committed to democratic pluralism and free and fair elections and unlike the muslim brotherhood be prepared to relinquish power if defeated at the ballot box
this is a huge challenge and of course we may now be witnessing an historic fall of the berlin wall moment in the muslim world
there are already good democratic role models in muslim-majority countries such as indonesia turkey and bangladesh for egypt and tunisia to emulate
hopefully in future the choice in the muslim world will not be between secular tyranny and islamist theocracies but instead enduring democracy
