Egyptian expert calls for cooperation

Vice President of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Amr Shobaki described the uprisings witnessed in the different Arab countries since 2011 as Arab spring, stressing that the Arab young people were aspiring to achieve better future for themselves and for their countries in the light of the state of frustration that dominated the Arab people due to the lack of democracy and deterioration of economic situation.

He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that Egypt faces serious challenges during the current period after six years of the revolution that overthrew the former ruling regime of President Hosni Mubarak, stressing the need for increasing cooperation between the different parties in the country to overcome the current challenges on political, economic and social level. The major challenge, he said, is extremism, adding that the country should perform increasing efforts to eliminate extremist ideas during the coming period.

He added that the Egyptian government also should work to keep the national state amid the current conspiracies targeting it during the current critical period, stressing the need for protecting the military forces that worked during the recent years to protect the Egyptian people. He underlined the efforts exerted by the Armed Forces to eliminate the extremist militias working in Sinai since the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood from the power in 2013.

There are other challenges, he added, including the economic crisis that poses serious threat against the country, as it directly affects the living of the Egyptian citizen especially after the recent economic decisions. He blamed the increasing corruption witnessed in the administrative body of the Egyptian governmental institutions for the increasing challenges witnessed in the country.

He stressed that the government should adopt the policy of dialogue with the different categories of the Egyptian community before the issuance of critical decisions related to the economic situation and to discuss the ways to overcome the current critical crises. He praised the economic decisions, saying that they came too late.

He added that Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has the right to join a political party, while he does not want to repeat the previous experience of former President Hosni Mubarak who led formerly ruling National Democratic Party for 30 years.

He expressed resentment over the performance of Egypt’s House of Representatives, saying that it performed a major role to undermine the rule of law since the beginning of the parliamentary round on January 10, 2016. He added that the parliament refuses to implement the verdict to drop the membership of MP Ahmed Mortada Mansour, saying that it reflects their desire to undermine the judicial verdicts. He stressed that the rule of law is considered the major standard upon which the parliamentary experience should be assessed.