What on earth has got into the head of Marc Franco, the EU's ambassador to Egypt? Writing for al-Ahram Weekly, in an article to mark Human Rights Day (December 10), he says:

Looking back over the last few years, it is only fair to say that Egypt has made courageous steps towards promoting a culture of human rights at all levels of Egyptian society.

He then goes on to enumerate some of the reforms that the EU has supported in Egypt "financially and technically":

Firstly, from an institutional perspective, Egypt has set up three new bodies that are powerful agents of change in the field of human rights: the National Council for Human Rights, the National Council for Women, and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. 

Secondly, from a reform perspective, Egypt has enacted legislation to improve the status of women and children in society, including a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) and an active policy to protect vulnerable children, notably street children; the minimum age of marriage for women rose from 16 to 18 years and allowed women to obtain a birth certificate for their child without listing the father's name; the opening of 64 new seats in the new People's Assembly for women candidates is now a reality; important legislation on human trafficking was adopted in May 2010, as well as a new law on organ transplants that was enacted after a long standing debate on the issue.

That's all very well, but what about the rigged elections, the people who have died in police custody, the jailed bloggers and opposition activists, etc, etc? And has the ban on female genital mutilation actually made any difference? Or the law on human trafficking?

Accentuating the positive is one thing, but this is ridiculous. There's not the slightest hint of criticism anywhere in Mr Franco's article. Readers who didn't know any better would get the impression that everything in Egypt is fine and dandy.

But almost everyone in Egypt does know better, and by scraping the barrel to find nice things to say Franco has turned himself – and the EU – into a laughing stock. 

His job is to represent the EU in Egypt, not the Mubarak regime. Franco, a Belgian who previously served in Moscow, hasn't been in Cairo long – just over a year – but Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign affairs chief, should call him back to Brussels tout de suite.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 11 Dec 2010.