A source close to the Muslim Brotherhood said that the meeting of Brotherhood figures Mohamed Ali Beshr and Amr Derag with Bernardino Lion, the European Union’s envoy to the Middle East, did not arrive at anything new regarding reconciliation between the Brotherhood and the current authority. The meeting lasted for an hour and a half in a Cairo hotel on Monday evening,
The source, who declined to be named, said the meeting was trying to find a solution by persuading the Brotherhood of reneging on its calls for escalation against the authorities in return for mediation involving the Brotherhood in politics and releasing its detained members.
The source said the Brotherhood leaders told Lion that there is no point negotiating with the authority and that negotiating would detract from the group’s legitimacy in the street and reduces its support.
The source added that the Brotherhood leaders are convinced that there is no other way but to continue what they see as the fight for legitimacy to be restored.
For his part, Derag said he told Lion that the matter is an internal affair that needs no foreign interference. “We told Catherine Ashton the same thing when she was here,” he said.
