After a second lengthy debate in the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the Federal Parliament, the future of the Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib (Francophone liberal) remains uncertain. Opposition parties are calling for Ms Lahbib’s dismissal, while two coalition parties, the Francopohone socialists and the Francophone greens are reserving judgement on whether they too will call for the Foreign Minister to step down.
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Foreign Minister’s future still very much uncertain
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The Francophone socialist federal MP Malik Ben Achour summed up his party’s position when he said, “The lights changed to orange, you put your foot down on the accelerator and drove through on red”.
Ms Lahbib has been under fire since it emerged that despite reservations expressed by civil servants at the Foreign Ministry, she decided to issue visas to a delegation of Iranian officials that had been invited to a conference in Brussels.
For the second time in 5 days the Foreign Minister appeared before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. An apology was expected and indeed was forthcoming. However, Ms Lahbib apologised only for the unclear communication surrounding the visa affair and the sense of insecurity that this had created and not for the fact that she herself had given the go ahead for the visas to be issued in the first place.
She also disputed that she had lied to parlement about when she had been briefed by the terror threat analysis organ OCAD about any security issues that might arise from issuing the visas. This is something that MPs from other coalition parties had accused her of.
“I haven’t lied. I recognise that there was a lack of precision that could have led to confusion that I was responsible for. But that isn’t lying”.
This failed to convince the left-of-centre opposition parties. The Francophone socialists in particular seem reluctant to express their confidence in the beleaguered Foreign Minister. Both they and the Francophone greens intend to study what Ms Lahbib said on Monday evening in detail before deciding whether they will support her in a confidence vote.
“A minister must be honest”
The Flemish coalition parties were much more lenient towards Ms Lahbib. However, they won't give an opinion either was as to whether she should stay or go. The Flemish green Wouter De Vriendt spoke of “Steps in the right direction”. Nevertheless, Mr De Vriendt still wants clear answers on whether Ms Lahbib would do the same thing again if a similar situation arose.
The Flemish socialists’ Group Leader in the Federal Parliament Melissa Depraetere said that it is good that Ms Lahbib has finally admitted that she was responsible for issuing the visas, but it is regrettable that it has taken two weeks for her to do so.
A decision on Hadja Lahbib’s future will come when parliament votes on no-confidence motions against the Foreign Minister. These votes will take place no later than Thursday.