Senior EU diplomat Bernardino León said that the organisation had been trying ‘for months’ prior to Morsi’s ouster to persuade the Brotherhood to share power. León, who arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, said that that there is a “big gap between both sides” but that there are “signs of hope.”

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and National Ombudsman Konstantin Penchev have agreed that there is a real risk of a mightier protest wave in the country in the autumn, after the summer recess of Parliament, if the demands of the demonstrators remain unheard.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held two phone conversations with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the latest developments in Syria and Egypt.