El Baradei calls for reconciliation process in Egypt

The leader of the Egyptian National Council of Change, Mohammad ElBaradei, Thursday stressed that "there is no going back" to the developments in Egypt. "The key challenge is how to manage transition. We need to see how we go into a reconciliation process," he told a conference on Europe and the Arab Spring held in the Belgian capital Brussels. The ex-chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stressed "it is very important that Egypt do it right and becomes a role model. If it does right everybody will follow." ElBaradei said the good news is that after a period of polarization "everybody is trying to reach out to everybody else. They realize that if you want to win the heart and mind of the Egyptians you need to reach out. Islamists need to reach out to Christians, Salafis to Leftists, and so on." He called on Europe to re-engage with the Arab world with fairness, noting that the people in the Arab world have lost trust in the West. "How to build the trust. It requires a lot of work. We need a change of mindset," he said. European and Arab officials, analysts and bankers aired their views on how to promote stability and prosperity in Arab countries which are undergoing democratic changes and debated the role of Islamic parties in building democracy. The former President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek said that in his country Poland, democracy was built on the basis of Christianity. "There was no contradiction at all. So I am quite sure that it is the same to build democracy on the basis of Islam," said Buzek who is now a member of the EP's foreign affairs committee. The one-day conference was co-organized by a Brussels-based think tank 'Friends of Europe' and the European Investment Bank.