The foreign affairs committee of the European Union’s elected institution, the European Parliament, urged the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday to not resort to violence and instead negotiate with the authorities. 

In a meeting on August 28, the committee discussed how to get Egypt’s democratic transition back on track and the recent attacks on churches that followed the authorities’ crackdown on Islamists. 

“The European Parliament has been concerned about the outbreaks of violence in the country and supports a rapid return to the democratic process, including the holding of free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections,” a statement on Thursday said. 

“We have to see what is helpful for the ordinary people, for the young people, and therefore the programmes of the European Union should support these people and be used to introduce again the roadmap to democracy as it was promised by the present government,” said Committee chair Elmar Brok, a German member of the EPP group.