Europe after Giulio Regeni

The European Union is politically and economically weaker than the US and stronger than the short-sighted vision that considers it merely a backyard for international revenues.

Many will say that the EU’s mutual foreign and security policies have not yet developed to their final stage, a matter which weakens the impact of the member states’ decisions. This is true theoretically, as the European parliament does not possess a political mechanism through which it can punish Egypt for the murder of the young student Giulio Regeni. This fact allows Egyptian diplomats to reduce the harshness of the decision made by the European parliament, given its direct and immediate impact on relations between Egypt and a number of important European countries, such as Germany, France and Britain. However, there are a number of points many officials overlook, either deliberately or accidentally.

First, the European parliament is not a parliament made up of governments and countries, rather the parliament members are directly elected by the European people. This means that there is a public opinion that recently formed regarding human rights issues in Egypt, and the murder of Giulio Regeni only confirmed this opinion. This resulted in a large consensus by 558 MPs to vote in favour of the parliament’s decision, while 10 objected and 59 abstained. We are talking about a legislative organisation within the European institution, and this vote may be an example of more decisions that affect Egypt politically, economically, or militarily which may be proposed to national parliaments within each country. We can only imagine how the governments will pass these decisions.

Second, the partnership agreement signed by Egypt and the EU in 2001 has gained economic attention given its reinforcement of mutual trade between the two parties. However, it explicitly states the importance of human rights and includes other clauses regarding dialogue between cultures. Many students and youth benefit from the training and educational programmes held within the Euro-Mediterranean system, which were launched originally as part of this partnership and operate within its framework. The European parliament’s latest decision against Egypt means that any future programmes will be at risk of failure or will be put on hold because Egypt violated the human rights clause.

Third, there are several international decisions and charters that are not obligatory given their nature or the party issuing them. However, they are important evidence and documents that prove matters that are difficult to get natural or concrete evidence for. This is another role played by the European Union’s latest decision, as there is no proof of the crime of enforced disappearance committed by the Egyptian authorities other than international human rights reports. Despite their significance, they allow Egyptian officials to constantly challenge them and downplay their importance, as well as attack the organisations that issue these reports, accusing them of being politicised. This has reached the point that those who were forcibly disappeared are being labelled terrorists and accused of running away from their families to join armed groups abroad. These official justifications or excuses were unsuccessful in the case of Regeni, as it is a full-fledged enforced disappearance crime that was also accompanied by the crimes of torture and murder. The investigating party is the Italian side, and they carried out an autopsy there. This was followed by an international legislative party, the European Parliament, issuing the decision in this regard. In other words, Giulio Regeni’s case is international proof of the crime of enforced disappearance and death under torture and it can be used before international judicial bodies or before national judicial bodies in the countries whose jurisdiction extends outside their borders.

Fourth, the widespread media attention gained by Giulio Regeni’s case was not only gained because he is Italian, but also because he was a student at one of the world’s largest universities, Britain’s Cambridge University and he died while doing field research for his PhD in Egypt. This was greatly reflected on the academics’ and public’s reactions. Cambridge University sent a letter to the Egyptian Consulate in London urging it to take the investigation into the incident seriously. It also demanded that it be provided updates on the findings of the investigation. This letter was posted on the university’s website. At the same time, a number of major universities across the world either cancelled academic missions scheduled in Egypt or sent their students letters warning them against travelling to Egypt.

Regeni’s case moved from the hands of the Italian government, to those of the Italian Parliament, and then to the hands of the European public opinion, and last but not least, to the European Parliament. It has become an issue of public opinion before being a crime that cast its shadows on the official relations between two major countries. The public opinion in democratic countries is not a marginal matter, rather it is a central matter, as it is a deciding factor in the electoral balances and hence in political decisions. Therefore, Europe before the death of Giulio Regeni is not like Europe after his death, and everyone must now prepare themselves for what is yet to come.

Translated from Masr Al-Arabia, 12 March 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.