West must exert pressure on Egypt's parliament

Egypt's first freely elected parliament, in which Islamist parties of differing degrees of radicalness have the majority, holds its first session today. While the West must come to terms with this it must also make certain demands, writes the liberal-conservative daily Die Presse: "That the elections went so smoothly is a huge success. The Egyptians can be proud of this. To condemn the victory of the Islamists would be just as counterproductive as to downplay its significance. For particularly as far as women's rights and the separation of state and religion (with ten percent of Christians basically a matter of state reason) are concerned, the Muslim Brothers will have to be watched very closely. They must be aware that they can hardly get along without the help of the West in overcoming the enormous economic and social problems. And the West must realise that it has to make this help contingent on certain conditions. It may be called blackmail - but it's certainly a clever tactic."

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