Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib confirmed, on Tuesday 13 February, that the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council were Ukraine and the Middle East.
“It is essential that we stand firmly by Ukraine, now more than ever”, said the minister at a hearing of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, adding that “the coming months will be decisive”. “We have to make a difference collectively, because (Vladimir) Putin won’t stop there”, she warned. According to the minister, energy must serve to maintain the unity and cohesion of Europeans over the long term.
Ms Lahbib also highlighted the “real humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. She announced that UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who met European Development Ministers on Monday 12 February (see EUROPE 13348/1), would meet their Foreign Affairs counterparts on Monday 19 February.
When asked about the High Representative of the Union’s request (see EUROPE 13348/2) to halt the supply of arms to Israel as a means of ending the conflict, Ms Lahbib said that this measure would not go far enough. “There is a real sense of urgency, and we are working more towards a diplomatic agreement”, she stressed.
While “these two conflicts require our full attention”, the minister stressed that the partnership between the EU and Africa was also of “strategic importance for the EU”. She said she hoped that a ministerial meeting would be held “as soon as possible” to implement the commitments made at the EU/African Union summit in February 2022 (see EUROPE 12894/1). Ms Lahbib also highlighted the tensions in the east of the DRC and in Senegal, the “overly neglected crisis” in Sudan, and the need to promote EU convergence in the Sahel.
The minister mentioned as well EU enlargement, China and the European defence industry, in particular the implementation of the ‘Strategic Compass’. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)