Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The euro area gives green light to freeze assets of Mubarak

The leader of the finance ministers of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he, Monday, February 14, favored a freeze of assets of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned. The decision of the Luxembourg Prime Minister was taken on the sidelines of a meeting in Brussels of the finance ministers of the Eurogroup forum, which he chairs.

The green light of the Eurogroup follows the decision of Switzerland, who decided last Friday after the announcement of the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, to freeze with immediate effect "that could hold the assets in the Swiss Confederation Mubarak and his entourage. A measure taken to avoid "any risk of misappropriation of property belonging to the Egyptian state." The European Union, she waits until the request comes from Cairo to act.

"We are in contact with the Egyptian authorities. When this subject will be discussed, we will respond," said the spokesman for the chief of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, Maja Kocijancik. Egypt has already called on Germany and Great Britain to freeze assets of former Egyptian officials, without specifically mentioning the présidentdéchu Hosni Mubarak.

The British Foreign Minister, William Hague, said that Britain would "cooperate (...) working with the European Union and international partners as we did in the case of Tunisia. (...) If there is evidence of misuse or illegal use of public funds, we will take firm and swift action. "Mr Hague also said the British minister of finance, George Osborne discuss the issue with his European counterparts on Monday evening and Tuesday in Brussels.

The French economy minister Christine Lagarde has ensured that Paris was "obviously available to the Egyptian judiciary" to review the status of assets that would own Mubarak in France.

No comments:

Post a Comment