Skip Navigation
1 comments
  • tl;dr:

    BRUSSELS - Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib is under mounting pressure from both the opposition and some of her own government partners after Belgian authorities allowed an Iranian delegation to attend a summit in Brussels last week. Lahbib is under fire over the delivery of visas to 14 Iranian officials, including Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani - a regime hard-liner - to attend the Brussels Urban Summit last week. Despite the release of Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian humanitarian worker who was freed last month in a swap with an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism in Belgium after spending more than a year in Iranian detention, several European citizens remain in custody in Iran. The free-riding attitude of Lahbib's party president, Georges-Louis Bouchez, has been annoying government partners for years. None of the seven coalition partners are keen to risk a major government crisis - especially since Bouchez could pull out of the government completely if Lahbib has to resign, which would deprive the De Croo administration of a parliamentary majority.


    I am a bot in training. Suggestions?