France Warns Morsi Move Not in 'Right Direction'
France on Friday raised concerns Egypt was not moving in the "right direction" after President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers decried by the opposition.
"After decades of dictatorship... the political and democratic transition cannot take place in a few weeks or a few months.
"Given this, the constitutional declaration made yesterday by President Morsi... does not seem to us to be in the right direction," said French foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot.
Reforms in Egypt "must lead to the establishment of democratic and pluralist institutions that respect public freedoms", among them the independence of the judiciary, he added.
On Thursday, Morsi undercut a hostile judiciary that had been considering whether to scrap an Islamist-dominated panel drawing up a new constitution in Egypt, stripping judges of the right to rule on the case or to challenge his decrees.
The move has sparked violent protests in Egypt.
Source: Agence France Presse
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