Egypt’s interim leader Adly Mansour is sensible to clear the way for early elections, Dutch foreign affairs minister Frans Timmermans said on Tuesday.

‘The worst thing that can happen is that the military start thinking “actually we rather like this. Let us go back to how things once were”,’ Timmermans told Radio 1 news.

Mansour’s decree envisages changes to the Islamist-drafted constitution and a referendum, which would pave way the way for elections early next year, the BBC said. The plan comes as at least 51 supports of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed in the capital Cairo.

It is crucial that as many parties as possible start working together, Timmermans said. ‘Egypt is so divided that, for example, you cannot form a stable government without the Muslim Brotherhood,’ he said.

He also welcomed Mansour’s decision to carry out an independent inquiry into Monday’s shootings.