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The European Union has lambasted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his decision to cling to power, saying the strongman failed to open the way for quick reforms.

"President Mubarak has not yet opened the way to faster and deeper reforms,” said the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a statement on Thursday following a speech by the 82-year-old president in which he brushed aside a chorus of calls to step down, AFP reported.

"The demands and expectations of the Egyptian people must be met. It is for them to judge whether the steps announced by President Mubarak fulfill their expectations and aspirations," Ashton said.

She further asserted that the time for Egypt to augur in a change in government "is now."

In a televised speech broadcast by state television on Thursday, Mubarak shrugged off the tide of outside pressure to resign, saying that he has transferred some powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman, 77, who was formerly the North African country's intelligence chief.

In a frantic struggle to contain the outbreak of fresh public demonstrations, Suleiman, also gave a televised speech, and sought to soothe the simmering tensions in the most populous Arab country, but failed to dissuade protesters from continuing their demonstrations.

The situation in Egypt has taken a sharp turn for the worse as some 3 millions of angry protesters in Cairo's Liberation Square were simmering in resentment over Mubarak and Suleiman's speeches and continued their revolution.

Meanwhile, there has been flurries of reactions by several government officials from across the world with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle saying Mubarak's speech "was not the hoped for step forward.”

"The worries of the international community are rather bigger after this speech than before," he added.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague also called for an "urgent but orderly transition" in Egypt after Mubarak refused to stand down during a speech to the nation.

"We're studying very closely what the president and the vice president of Egypt have said," said Hague, adding that "All we want in the UK is for them to be able to settle their own differences in a peaceful and democratic way,”

On the other hand, the Egyptian ambassador to the United States said on Thursday that Suleiman is the "de facto head of state" of Egypt.

Several Egyptian cities, including the capital Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been the scene of massive revolution over the past 17 days as millions of people spilled out into the streets, calling for an immediate end to Mubarak's three-decade US-backed rule.

According to the United Nations, at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more injured during nationwide protests in Egypt.