“Lahbib just got down on his knees.” N-VA party leader Peter De Roover takes the controversial visit of the Iranian mayor to our country very seriously and also believes that Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib “should take her responsibility”. “She has made a serious political mistake and must suffer the same consequences as Pascal Smet (who resigned yesterday because of the fuss, ed.)”.
Brussels State Secretary Pascal Smet (Vooruit) resigned yesterday after the controversial visit of an Iranian and Russian delegation. “The only correct conclusion”, said parliamentary party leader Peter De Roover (N-VA) on Sunday, but he also wants Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib to follow his example. The federal opposition leader said this on Monday morning on the VRT radio program ‘De Ochtend’.
“Lahbib is not a strong minister”, De Roover did not spare his criticism for a minister who, according to him, “gave way too easily to Iran”. According to him, Lahbib – together with the De Croo government – has sent a very bad signal to the world. “As a country, we first have to undergo the humiliation that our compatriot Olivier Vandecasteele was held hostage for 455 days, but two weeks later people are rolling the red carpet and seem to be throwing sand at the case. What weakness do you show then?”, says De Roover.
Lahbib is not a strong minister. She has simply bowed to a regime that humiliated us just two weeks ago
“What is Lahbib actually doing there?” the N-VA members went further. “Does she have the strength to exercise the position of foreign minister? She just got down on her knees.” According to De Roover, Lahbib must resign for “a serious political error and suffer the same consequences as Smet” If she stays put, it is clear to De Roover that “the De Croo government is rolling out the red carpet for regimes such as Iran that are blackmailing our country” .
Do MR and De Croo still support minister Lahbib?
Yesterday, De Roover already called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs “to take her responsible”. “At the end of the day it was Lahbib who put her stamp on the visas. When will she assume her responsibility? N-VA chairman Bart De Wever also shared that message. “Lahabib can’t stay on. A signal is needed that genuine political refugees in our country are safe from the Iranian regime.”
Lahbib does not want to respond for the time being, but will have to defend himself on Wednesday in an extra committee on Foreign Affairs. For now, she seems to be able to count on the support of both the government and her party.
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