Westerwelle to meet Morsi

Guido Westerwelle is the first western foreign minister to visit new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, saying that he wanted the trip to be a further "signal for democratic stability" in the country.

Westerwelle said it was important that Egypt, still trying to implement democratic reforms almost 17 moths after former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted, did not let a "democracy vacuum" take hold. The pro-business Free Democrat politician said that improving living conditions would help prevent this. He also alluded to German businesses keen to invest more heavily in the country.

The German foreign minister arrived in Cairo on Monday night, walking straight into the first major tussle between the newly-elected president and the country's judiciary and military.

Egypt's parliament, disbanded last month by the Supreme Constitutional Court, was set to reconvene on Tuesday by Morsi's decree. Parliament is dominated by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other allied groups.

The constitutional court on Monday sought to block Morsi's decree, saying that its prior decision to disband parliament was final and "binding for all state institutions."

Parliament was closed one day before the second round runoff presidential ballot that Morsi ultimately won. The Muslim Brotherhood called the move a "soft coup" at the time, but more secular factions in parliament supported the ruling and have said they might boycott Tuesday's meeting, if parliament reconvenes.

Egypt's slow transition towards more democratic rule has been marked by a struggle between the relatively new Islamist forces and the more secular establishment. Though the military council relinquished power to Morsi after his election, they made changes beforehand designed to keep a tight grip on the formation of a constitution and on budgetary issues.

Westerwelle also met with Morsi in January this year, ahead of the Egyptian elections.

msh/jm (AFP, dapd, dpa)