Hadja Lahbib | |
|---|---|
 Lahbib in 2024 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 15 July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Alexander De Croo |
| Preceded by | Sophie Wilmès |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 June 1970 Boussu,Belgium |
| Political party | MR (2022–present) |
| Spouse | Olivier Lemaire |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Universitélibre de Bruxelles |
| Occupation |
|
Hadja Lahbib (born 21 June 1970) is a Belgian journalist, television presenter, director and politician, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs since July 2022.
Francophone Hadja Lahbib was born on 21 June 1970 in Boussu, near the city of Mons, to a family of Algerian Kabyles. [1] [2]
Her parents are practicing Muslims, but she says she is more attracted to Buddhism. [3]
Lahbib graduated in journalism from the Free University of Brussels and worked for a long time for the Belgian Radio-Television of the French Community (RTBF). In particular, she was a special correspondent in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and presented the television news for two decades. In May 2013, she presented the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, but she refused explicitly to mention the winner had Israeli nationality. [4]
Before starting her political career, Hadja Lahbib visited politically disputed Crimea between Russia and Ukraine in July 2021. [5] She did not tell how exactly she got there and did not recognize Crimea as the territory of Ukraine. [5] She went to the "Global Values" festival, which is organized by the Sevastopol Academic Russian Drama Theater named after Lunacharsky and organized by Katerina Tikhonova, daughter of Vladimir Putin. [5] [6] In 2021, it was held on 23–25 July. On Instagram, she published fragments of a choreographic performance from the festival. After the trip, she was asked by RTBF whether she was coming back from Russia or Ukraine. Lahbib did not answer clearly, but said: "To land at Simferopol airport, a Russian visa is required." [5] [7] [8]
Prior to her appointment as foreign minister on 15 July 2022, Lahbib was only politically active with the socialist organisation, Solidaris, [9] and she was not a member of the liberal Reformist Movement (MR), whose leader Georges-Louis Bouchez unexpectedly nominated her for the post of Belgian Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs to replace Sophie Wilmès. She took the oath before King Philippe on the same day. At the press conference at which she was introduced, she said about her political position:
"I am not left, not right, but fundamentally free". [10] [11]
After the interview, Georges-Louis Bouchez asked her to join MR, and she did so. Since then, she has repeatedly declared herself to be fully liberal. [12]
In her capacity as Foreign Minister, she condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, expressed full support for Ukraine [13] and called the occupation of Crimea illegal. [14] In a letter addressed to the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 28, 2022, she expressed her support for Ukraine and described Russia's occupation of Crimea as "illegal." [15] Dmytro Kuleba, her counterpart at the time, acknowledged "Belgium's sincere and loyal commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity." [16]
On 7 October 2022, Lahbib and two lawmakers – Darya Safai and Goedele Liekens – cut their hair in parliament, in solidarity with anti-government demonstrations in Iran triggered by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. [17]
On 26 November 2022, Lahbib and prime minister Alexander De Croo visited Ukraine. [18]
In September 2023, MR, through the voices of Hadja Lahbib and David Clarinval, asked the Ministry of Defense to reconsider the possibility of delivering F-16s to Ukraine. Hadja Lahbib explained, “The best way to protect Belgium is by sending F-16s to Ukraine.” [19]
On October 7, Hadja Lahbib swiftly condemned the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad against Israel. Since that day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been calling for the release of all hostages. [20]
In May 2024, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Belgium, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that 30 F-16 fighter jets would be delivered to Ukraine by 2028. [21]
During the Belgian presidency of Europe during the first semester of 2024, she urged to "deprive Hungary — which took over the presidency in July— of voting rights" in the European Union. [22]
In July 2024, she criticized Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, saying that "Belgium will always stand up for the respect of international law." [23] In August 2024, she "strongly" condemned the Al-Tabaeen school attack in Gaza by Israel. [24]
In June 2023, Lahbib won a vote of no-confidence in parliament after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities, including the mayor of Tehran known as the butcher of Tehran, [25] to attend a mayors' convention in Brussels earlier that month. Her MR party had threatened to leave the government if she had to resign, which would have made the government collapse. [26]
In November 2022, she met with the Qatari labor minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, who is accused of the corruption, to discuss human rights, women's rights and LGBTQIA+ rights. [27] [28] [29] [30]
On September 2, 2024, Arizona, the likely future governing coalition, nominated Hadja Lahbib as its candidate for the position of European Commissioner. It had been previously agreed among the coalition parties that the Belgian candidate for this post would be selected by the MR party. [31] The president of the MR-party, Georges-Louis Bouchez proposed Lahbib as Belgian candidate to replace Didier Reynders for the second Von der Leyen Commission after missing the August 31st deadline previously set by the President of the Commission. [32]
Lahbib's nomination fulfilled a specific request from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had emphasized the importance of Member State governments proposing female candidates. [33]
On September 17, 2024, Ursula von der Leyen nominated Hadja Lahbib as the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Crisis Preparedness and Management, Civil Protection, and Equality.
Burundi's relations with its neighbours have often been affected by security concerns. During the Burundian Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees have at various times crossed to neighboring Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some Burundian rebel groups have used neighboring countries as bases for insurgent activities. The 1993 embargo placed on Burundi by regional states hurt diplomatic relations with its neighbors; relations have improved since the 1999 suspension of these sanctions.
Morocco is a member of the United Nations and belongs to the African Union, Arab League, Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). Morocco's relationships vary greatly between African, Arab, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Western states. Morocco has had strong ties with the West in order to gain economic and political benefits. France and Spain remain the primary trade partners, as well as the primary creditors and foreign investors in Morocco. From the total foreign investments in Morocco, the European Union invests approximately 73.5%, whereas the Arab world invests only 19.3%. As of 2009, many countries from the Persian Gulf and Maghreb regions are also becoming more involved in large-scale development projects in Morocco.
Belgium is a country in Europe and member of major international organizations like the European Union and NATO which are both headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
The Reformist Movement is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest parties on the European continent.
Les Engagés is a centrist French-speaking political party in Belgium. The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP), which had been the country's governing party for much of the post-war period. It continued to be called the Christian Social Party until 2002 when it was renamed the Humanist Democratic Centre. It took its current name on 17 March 2022, and currently does not participate in any government.
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen is a German politician, serving as the 13th president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, most recently as federal minister of defence. She is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its affiliated europarty, the European People's Party (EPP). On 7 March 2024, the EPP elected her as its Spitzenkandidat to lead the campaign for the 2024 European parliament elections. She was re-elected to head the Commission in July 2024.
Didier Reynders is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of the House in 1992. He was a minister without interruption from 1999 to 2019, until resigning to become Belgian European Commissioner.
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Media related to Hadja Lahbib at Wikimedia Commons
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