Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, says cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority will encourage terrorism. Speaking after a meeting in Vienna with Heinz Fischer, the Austrian president, Mubarak said: "The aid is used by the man-in-the-street to buy medicine and to send his children to school. If this money is cut, terrorism will grow and all the [Palestinian] people will suffer." The 25 EU countries had an informal foreign ministers meeting in Salzburg on Friday. They said aid could be cut to the Palestinian Authority if the Hamas organisation, which won Palestinian elections in January, did not give up violence and recognise Israel's right to exist according to the road map for Middle East peace talks. "Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people and Israel must recognise that it can form a new government. The renunciation of Hamas of violence and its recognition of preceding engagements (in peace talks) is for a second stage," Mubarak said.