"Europe should take a stand for the Sinai Monastery" demand MEPstranslated

A new joint written question was submitted to the European Commission today, Wednesday (19/8), by the four PASOK MEPs, Yannis Maniatis, Nikos Papandreou, Sakis Arnautoglou and Nikolas Farandouris, regarding the developments at the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai. The parliamentary intervention of the four PASOK MEPs comes ahead of the imminent final adjudication of the case regarding the ownership status of the Monastery before the Egyptian Court of Cassation on August 23. The four PASOK MEPs raise serious concerns regarding the recognition of the legal personality of the Monastery, the refusal to date of state recognition of its duly elected Archbishop and Abbot by the Egyptian Authorities and hence the lack of effective legal representation and protection of the historical ownership status of the Monastery.

As they point out, these developments are taking place at a time when the European Union is deepening its strategic partnership with Egypt and has progressed to a positive assessment of the country in terms of the rule of law and human rights.

The four MEPs...