The EU has welcomed the resignation earlier today (11 February) of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s autocratic ruler for the past three decades.

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement that “by standing down, he has listened to the voices of the Egyptian people and has opened the way to faster and deeper reforms, and an orderly transition to democracy”.

“The EU salutes the courage of the Egyptian people who have pursued their campaign for democratic change peacefully and with dignity,” they said. “It is important now that the dialogue is accelerated leading to a broad-based civilian government which will respect the aspirations of, and deliver stability for, the Egyptian people. An orderly and irreversible transition towards democracy and free and fair elections is the shared objective of both the EU and the Egyptian people.”

They called on the army to “continue to act responsibly” and to “ensure that the democratic change takes place in a peaceful manner” and said that the EU was ready to help with all its instruments.

In a separate statement issued earlier, Ashton said that it was up to the EU member states to decide whether to freeze Mubarak’s assets.

Switzerland’s government announced after today’s events that it had frozen any assets that Mubarak and his associates might have in the country.

Ashton is planning to travel to Tunisia on Monday and hopes to go to Egypt afterwards. 

Mubarak was ousted after 18 days of unprecedented protests in this nation of 80 million people. The protests were inspired by the revolution that toppled Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s ruler, on 14 January.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s vice president, announced earlier this afternoon that Mubarak had relinquished power and that the Supreme Council of Egypt’s armed forces would take over. Mubarak is reported to have left Cairo, the capital, for his holiday home in Sharm el-Sheikh, a seaside resort on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

“Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state’s affairs,” Suleiman, the long-time chief of Egypt’s feared general intelligence service and a close Mubarak ally, said in a statement on state television.

Tahrir Square in central Cairo, where protesters have been camping out, erupted in celebrations after the announcement.

Click Here: kanken kids cheap

Mubarak, a former commander of Egypt’s air force who has survived several assassination attempts, had ruled with an iron fist since taking power in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar el-Sadat. Egypt has had just three presidents since it became a republic in 1952.

The 82-year-old Mubarak had addressed the nation last night in a defiant speech, announcing that he would cede responsibilities to Suleiman but remain in office until a presidential election scheduled for September. That announcement provoked further furious protests and, it now appears, what amounted to his removal by the military today.

Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, said that Mubarak’s resignation “should facilitate democratic transition without further violence”.

“I am convinced that this is an historic day of peaceful, lasting and democratic change,” Buzek said. “I fully support the aspirations of the Egyptian people. We, the people of Europe, stand by their side and offer our support in response to their call.”

He said that a new government ought to include “all democratic forces” and that the army must play a “constructive role” in the transition to democracy.