Time for change in Egypt 'is now,' says EU's Ashton

(BRUSSELS) - The time for Egypt to secure a change in government "is now," the European Union's chief diplomat Catherine Ashton said late Thursday after President Hosni Mubarak clung on in a televised speech.

"The time for change is now," she underlined in a fresh statement released after the veteran leader left massed protesters disappointed and angry by refusing to quit immediately.

"President Mubarak has not yet opened the way to faster and deeper reforms," Ashton said, adding: "We will pay close attention to the response by the Egyptian people in the coming hours and days."

The strongman said he had delegated power to his deputy and proposed constitutional changes but stopped short of resigning, and his speech was met with angry chants of "Down, Down with Mubarak" among the more than 200,000 people who packed Cairo's Tahrir Square.

It was the 17th day of massive nationwide protests and many of the protesters called for an immediate general strike and angrily addressed the army, which had deployed large numbers of troops and tanks around the protest.

"The demands and expectations of the Egyptian people must be met," Ashton insisted, saying "it is for them to judge whether the steps announced by President Mubarak fulfil their expectations and aspirations."

Mubarak had "not yet opened the way to faster and deeper reforms," leading Ashton to "urge the Egyptian authorities and the army to protect the peaceful demonstrators and act with calm and restraint."

While the lifting of a 30-year-old state of emergency Mubarak also announced was considered "a step forward" in Brussels, Ashton also warned that new freedoms "must be implemented as soon as possible."

Ashton said she "will visit Egypt as soon as possible," hours after her spokeswoman admitted that the English baroness was having difficulty securing agreement from Cairo to take her message from the EU's 27 national leaders to Mubarak and opposition figures.