Finland Times

President Sauli Niinistö and his German counterpart Joachim Gauck on Saturday criticized the ongoing political situation in Egypt following ouster of its elected president through military usurpation.

The two leaders at a meeting in the Finnish president’s summer residence at Kultaranta also urged the parties concerned to help a democratic transition immediately in the transcontinental Arab republic.

"The situation in Egypt is very problematic. An elected president has been ousted in an undemocratic process, "said Niinistö at a joint press conference after the meeting, adding that such incident is a big threat to democracy.

Both the presidents observed that democracy has been suffered in Egypt and the issue should be resolved within the quickest possible time.

Niinistö and Gauck during the meeting  also focused the allegations of spying brought by the European Union against United States of America and viewed that the EU and USA should hold discussion, if the  allegations are true.

Pointing out the recent allegations of espionage, Niinistö said the suspicion of gathering information secretly about individuals is a matter of concern.

Gauck said that the allegation of USA spying at the initial stage. The USA and EU free-trade move should not put negative impact on the business.

"These two issues should not be connected with each other and matters should be dealt so that one should not affect the other," said the German president.

The Finland and German presidents also discussed other bilateral issues, EU affairs including economic, energy and politics.

"Some time we have individual economic policy but the economic policy of Finland is very important to Germany," the German president observed.