The Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Flemish liberal) has said that Belgium had no choice other than to issue a visa to enable an Iranian delegation to attend last week’s Brussels Urban Conference. Mr De Croo said that he gave the Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib (Francophone liberal) his approval to issue the visas.
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PM gave approval for Iranian delegation visa
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The presence of an Iranian delegation at the Brussels Urban Conference had been the source of heated political debate during past week. 14 Iranians were issued with a visa from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Their presence provoked much criticism.
The Belgian Prime Minister De Croo has now confirmed that he was aware of the question that arose in the run-up to the Brussels Urban Summit about about whether or not visas should be to the Iranian delegation. Officials at the Foreign Ministry had advised against this. However, the visas were issued after Mr De Croo had given the Foreign Minister permission to issue them.
"Along with the Foreign Minister’s office, we came to the conclusion that as an invitation had been sent to the Mayor of Tehran by the Brussels Secretary of State, the horse had already bolted Belgium had no choice other than issue a visa so as to avoid a major diplomatic incident and the humiliating Iran."
"Belgium didn’t take this risk for the simple reason that we remain committed to ensuring the release of Europeans wrongly imprisoned in Iran”.