The Telegraph reports that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has been strongly criticised after the EU failed to agree on a statement condemning attacks on religious minorities in the Islamic world.

The paper says a meeting in Brussels on Monday of EU foreign ministers failed to agree on a condemnation of sectarian attacks over the Christmas period that targeted Christians in Egypt and Iraq.

It says the meeting ended abruptly when Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, accused Ashton of "excessive" political correctness because she refused to name any specific religious group as a victim of attacks.

"The final text didn't include any mention of Christians, as if we were talking of something else, so I asked the text to be withdrawn," said Frattini.