After the saga surrounding the granting of visas to an Iranian delegation, Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib (MR) has “already resigned from the point of view of credibility and reliability”. That is what PS party leader in the Chamber Ahmed Laaouej said this morning on radio station Bel-RTL. He invites her to do “a political examination of conscience”.
LOOK. Lahbib embraces her predecessor Sophie Wilmès warmly after the parliamentary committee
What is going on?
– Foreign Minister Lahbib (MR) has been lying for a long time under fire for its role in the Iranian visa dossierearlier this month an Iranian delegation visited a conference in Brussels
– Lahbib is not only in the eye of the storm for issuing the visas, but also for her performance in parliament. Irangate, meanwhile, has escalated into a trust issue involving both her fate as that of the entire government hangs by a thread
– Lahbib got another chance today (but also the last chance) to to tell the truth in the Chamber. The left-wing government parties expected an apology, and they got it. Whether that is enough, they will decide on Thursday, when parliament has the fate of Lahbib at its disposal.
Last night, Lahbib was again questioned for hours in the Chamber about the Iranian visa file. In addition to the opposition, which is demanding her resignation, the majority parties PS and Ecolo were also still strict afterwards. For example, Laaouej finds it “unacceptable” that the minister tried to convert her individual responsibility into a collective responsibility by involving the prime minister and the Brussels government.
“Confidence is broken,” Laaouej stated this morning. However, the party leader did not mention any support for the motion of no confidence that the opposition has tabled in the Chamber and that will be voted on Thursday. “We are committed to the stability of the government,” Laaouej assured. “We need a government that can function,” he pointed to all the reforms that the Vivaldi coalition still wants to tackle.
Image damaged
Laaouej thinks that Lahbib has “damaged the entire image of Belgium”. “Belgium is no longer the place of human rights, where people are protected against the abuse of power by certain dictatorships. That is the result of the visas issued by the foreign minister,” he denounced. According to him, it is up to Lahbib to judge “whether she is still able to represent Belgium on the international scene”.
At the public channel RTBF, Member of Parliament Samuel Cogolati (Ecolo) greeted the other tone that Lahbib had adopted yesterday. “But we have no guarantee that this saga will not happen again,” he stated. It is also clear to him that the foreign minister is coming out of this affair “with weakened credibility”. Asked if the Greens are asking for the minister’s resignation, Cogolati replied that they “don’t want anybody’s head”, but just want to ensure “that values are respected” in Belgium.
In De Ochtend on the Flemish public channel VRT, Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) pointed out that his party had asked that Lahbib make it clear that she was responsible for issuing the visas, acknowledges that things have gone wrong and apologizes.
According to Vandenbroucke, Vooruit feels that this has become clear in the House last night. The party therefore wants the government to continue working. “We want to move forward with the government,” argued the deputy prime minister, pointing to pension and tax reforms still on the government’s table.
Read also: Despite apologies up to fifteen times: why minister Lahbib will remain in purgatory until Thursday (+)
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss a thing of the stars.