Xavier Bettel puts on his costume as Minister of Foreign Affairs

First Governing Council of the 2023-2028 legislature and subsequently, first “Foreign Affairs” Council of the European Union: things did not drag on this Monday for Xavier Bettel. The former Prime Minister, now Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of Foreign and European Affairs (among others), participated in an extraordinary meeting, by videoconference, with his EU counterparts. A meeting convened by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. On the agenda: the situation in Israel and Gaza, following Josep Borrell’s trip to the region.

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“In his intervention, Minister Bettel reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held by Hamas,” the statement said. from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, which summarizes this meeting. This Tuesday, we learned that the negotiations, led in particular by Qatar, for the release of the hostages but also for a truce, are well underway.

Xavier Bettel also “showed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza”, recalled “the importance of ensuring that we combat all forms of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and hate speech” and insisted that “the essential is to put an end to the suffering of innocent civilians (…) The ultimate objective must always be peace. The minister called for an urgent relaunch of the peace process by the EU and for a two-state solution, on which a common position of the Twenty-Seven must be found.