(STRASBOURG) - The European Union urged caution about cutting off aid to Pakistan on Wednesday while stepping up calls for President Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency rule.

"Any measures to suspend cooperation... would strike a population which is already struck with many difficulties," said Portuguese European Affairs Minister Manuel Lobo Antunes, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"Such a stop in cooperation has to be looked at closely indeed," he added, addressing the European Parliament.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner stressed that much of the European Commission's aid to Pakistan currently focused on fighting poverty and improving education.

"Given the nature of this assistance, I think we need to reflect very carefully" about any moves to cut aid to the country, she told EU lawmakers.

The United States is considering whether to suspend part of its multi-billion-dollar aid programme after Musharraf declared emergency rule.

Antunes and Ferrero-Waldner renewed criticism of Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule on November 3 over threats from Islamic militancy and interference by the judiciary in government affairs.

"The imposition of emergency rule has greatly endangered the strengthening of democratic institutions and also building a more inclusive democratic process," Ferrero-Waldner said.

"It is therefore of fundamental importance that civilian and political rights should be restored, media restrictions withdrawn and essential improvements made to the framework and conditions for elections," she added.

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