Top Euro MP derides EU 'Muppet Show' on Egypt

(BRUSSELS) - EU president Herman Van Rompuy admitted Tuesday that the bloc struggled to speak with one voice on the Egyptian revolt as a top Euro MP compared the cacophony of statements to the "Muppet Show."

After a group of countries and the EU's foreign policy chief issued separate statements on anti-government protests in Egypt, European leaders finally signed off on a joint declaration last Friday calling for a swift transition in Cairo.

"Despite the dissonant voices, we gave the same message to the Egyptian people, we said that the transition must start now and called for free and fair elections," Van Rompuy told leaders of the European parliament's political groups.

The head of the Socialist bloc, Martin Schulz, compared Europeans to the Statler and Waldorf characters in the children's television programme "The Muppet Show."

From a theatre balcony, the two cantankerous old men comment on everything but "nobody takes them seriously," Schulz said. "It's sort of the European Union's role."

The head of the parliament's biggest group, the conservative European People's Party, said that despite being the world's top aid donor, "it is unable to speak with one voice."

Even though the EU has its own chief diplomat, Daul said EU member states "continue to issue statements" that are often "scattered."