• Source: Hadja Lahbib

Hadja Lahbib (born 21 June 1970) is a Belgian journalist, television presenter, director and politician, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs since July 2022.




Early life


Francophone Hadja Lahbib was born on 21 June 1970 in Boussu, near the city of Mons, to a family of Algerian Kabyles.
Her parents are practicing Muslims, but she says she is more attracted to Buddhism.




Career as a journalist


Lahbib graduated in journalism from the Free University of Brussels and worked for a long time for the Belgian Radio-Television of the French Community (RTBF). In particular, she was a special correspondent in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and presented the television news for two decades. In May 2013, she presented the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition.




Political career






= Journey to Crimea as a Journalist

=

Before starting her political career, Hadja Lahbib visited politically disputed Crimea between Russia and Ukraine in July 2021. She did not tell how exactly she got there and did not recognize Crimea as the territory of Ukraine. She went to the "Global Values" festival, which is organized by the Sevastopol Academic Russian Drama Theater named after Lunacharsky and organized by Katerina Tikhonova, daughter of Vladimir Putin. In 2021, it was held on 23–25 July. On Instagram, she published fragments of a choreographic performance from the festival. After the trip, she was asked by RTBF whether she was coming back from Russia or Ukraine. Lahbib did not answer clearly, but said: "To land at Simferopol airport, a Russian visa is required."




= Minister of Foreign Affairs

=
Prior to her appointment as foreign minister on 15 July 2022, Lahbib was only politically active with the socialist organisation, Solidaris, and she was not a member of the liberal Reformist Movement (MR), whose leader Georges-Louis Bouchez unexpectedly nominated her for the post of Belgian Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs to replace Sophie Wilmès. She took the oath before King Philippe on the same day. At the press conference at which she was introduced, she said about her political position: "I am not left, not right, but fundamentally free". After the interview, Georges-Louis Bouchez asked her to join MR, and she did so. Since then, she has repeatedly declared herself to be fully liberal.
In her capacity as Foreign Minister, she condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, expressed full support for Ukraine and called the occupation of Crimea illegal. In a letter addressed to the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 28, 2022, she expressed her support for Ukraine and described Russia's occupation of Crimea as "illegal." Dmytro Kuleba, her counterpart at the time, acknowledged "Belgium's sincere and loyal commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity."
On 7 October 2022, Lahbib and two lawmakers – Darya Safai and Goedele Liekens – cut their hair in parliament, in solidarity with anti-government demonstrations in Iran triggered by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

On 26 November 2022, Lahbib and prime minister Alexander De Croo visited Ukraine.
In September 2023, MR, through the voices of Hadja Lahbib and David Clarinval, asked the Ministry of Defense to reconsider the possibility of delivering F-16s to Ukraine. Hadja Lahbib explained, “The best way to protect Belgium is by sending F-16s to Ukraine.”
On October 7, Hadja Lahbib swiftly condemned the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad against Israel. Since that day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been calling for the release of all hostages.
In May 2024, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Belgium, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that 30 F-16 fighter jets would be delivered to Ukraine by 2028.
During the Belgian presidency of Europe during the first semester of 2024, she urged to "deprive Hungary — which took over the presidency in July— of voting rights" in the European Union.
In July 2024, she criticized Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, saying that "Belgium will always stand up for the respect of international law." In August 2024, she "strongly" condemned the Al-Tabaeen school attack in Gaza by Israel.




= Issues

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In June 2023, Lahbib won a vote of no-confidence in parliament after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities, including the mayor of Tehran known as the butcher of Tehran, to attend a mayors' convention in Brussels earlier that month. Her MR party had threatened to leave the government if she had to resign, which would have made the government collapse.
In November 2022, she met with the Qatari labor minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri, who is accused of the corruption, to discuss human rights, women's rights and LGBTQIA+ rights.




European Commissioner Designate


On September 2, 2024, Arizona, the likely future governing coalition, nominated Hadja Lahbib as its candidate for the position of European Commissioner. It had been previously agreed among the coalition parties that the Belgian candidate for this post would be selected by the MR party. The president of the MR-party, Georges-Louis Bouchez proposed Lahbib as Belgian candidate to replace Didier Reynders for the second Von der Leyen Commission after missing the August 31st deadline previously set by the President of the Commission.
Lahbib's nomination fulfilled a specific request from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had emphasized the importance of Member State governments proposing female candidates.
On September 17, 2024, Ursula von der Leyen nominated Hadja Lahbib as the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, Crisis Preparedness and Management, Civil Protection, and Equality.




Works


Afghanistan, le choix des femmes, 2007, 55 min. A portrait of two leading female figures from the Afghan landscape. Nominated for the Albert Londres Prize.
Le cou et la tête, 2008, 26 min. Documentary about the women's village Umoja in northern Kenya.
Patience, patience, t'iras au paradis, 2014, 85 min. Documentary about six immigrant women in Belgium. The movie won the prestigious Iris Europa Award 2015.




Honors and awards






= State decorations

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Order of Orange-Nassau
Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg




= Awards and prizes

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Honorary citizenship of Liège (2011)
Bruxelloise de l’année (2013)
Dunia African Award (2019)




References






External links


Media related to Hadja Lahbib at Wikimedia Commons

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Pembunuhan jurnalis dalam perang Israel–Hamas
• Hadja Lahbib
• Von der Leyen Commission II
• Hadja
• Lahbib
• Federal Government of Belgium
• Alexander De Croo
• De Croo Government
• List of governments in Belgium
• Sophie Wilmès
• List of current foreign ministers