BICOM

European Union foreign ministers will today debate economic measures aimed at forcing Egypt’s army-backed rulers to end a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

All sides in Egypt will monitor the emergency meeting in Brussels, as the EU has emerged as a key mediator in the conflict. However, there may be little the EU can do induce Egypt’s military to think twice by cutting back on aid – as the majority of EU aid goes directly to civil society groups and Saudi Arabia has pledged to cover any aid shortfalls from the West.

Thus, according to diplomats, the EU are likely to tread carefully, mixing concern over bloodshed, with limited changes in the 5 billion euro ($6.7 billion) aid package Europe promised Egypt last year, “It is about finding a formula for Europe to help Egypt get from where it is now to where a vast majority of the people say they want to be,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters on Tuesday, before the emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“That’s going to be done by a political process and Egypt will need help to get there. And we are ready to help if they so wish,” she said In July, Ashton became the first foreign official to meet Morsi after he was deposed by the army, taken into detention and placed under investigation on charges including murder.

The EU’s subsequent mediation efforts, conducted jointly with the US, collapsed earlier in August. Several days later, government forces killed hundreds of Morsi’s supporters during a crackdown. Ashton has told Egyptian authorities she is willing to go back to mediate.

Underlining unease in the West over how to respond to the crisis in Egypt, the White House said Tuesday that media reports stating it had cut off aid to Egypt were inaccurate, adding that the Obama administration is still reviewing its options. “That review has not concluded and … published reports to the contrary that assistance to Egypt has been cut off are not accurate,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing.

Earnest also said that Egypt’s detention of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie was not in line with the standard that the United States would hope to uphold in protecting basic human rights.

The White House will hold a Cabinet-level meeting to discuss cutting some of $1.5 billion in US aid to Egypt. Earnest confirmed that a National Security Council meeting of top officials will take place Tuesday. Up to now, the administration has insisted that it has taken no final decision on halting aid to Egypt since the military’s July overthrow of Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood-led government and an intensifying crackdown on Islamist opponents.