The European Union paid scant attention to democracy and human rights in Egypt until mass protests brought the issue to the fore, the bloc's president admitted bluntly on Tuesday, reported dpa.
Despite his autocratic ways, embattled Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak has long been an ally of the West, mainly because of his key moderating influence in the Middle East peace process.
"When I listened to what was being said in Europe until just a few weeks ago, Egypt was certainly not an issue, certainly not in terms of human rights," EU president Herman Van Rompuy told the European Parliament in Brussels.
"People preferred stability, stability bore fruit as some of you have said, some of you mentioned Egypt's great contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East," he added.
Speaking on the outcome of last week's EU summit, where leaders called for an immediate start of the democratization process, Van Rompuy said the outbreak of the pro-democracy movement was "unexpected but not unwelcome."
He also appeared to acknowledge criticism that the EU lacked unity in reacting to the unfolding events - with a joint statement by Britain, France, Germany Italy and Spain last week overshadowing the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
"What we did, perhaps, was to speak through different voices, perhaps a little too much, but essentially the same message was always there," Van Rompuy insisted.
But he also charged that "other great world powers were not all that clear on what they were saying either."