Former NATO Secretary General and Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer thinks it is a pity that the European Union did not play a more important role in the recent revolution in Eygpt.

Speaking in a Dutch television programme, the prominent Christian Democrat said, while the Americans were keeping their fingers on the pulse, “Europe’s position was inconsistent”

“Large European countries, like Germany and France, took their own position, leaving EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton and Brussels on the sideline.”

Nevertheless Mr de Hoop Scheffer believes Europe can still redeem itself “If Egypt wants, and only if Egypt wants, Europe could help draft a constitution or help set up political parties.”

The former NATO chief thinks it is vital that stability returns to the region. However he declined to predict whether or how this will happen. He said no-one knows, even US President Barack Obama is continually on the phone, to be kept abreast of affairs. He dismissed the idea that the West has some kind of power machine which needs to be readjusted.