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Hadja Lahbib
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Hadja Lahbib
Hadja Lahbib (French pronunciation: [adʒa labib]; born 21 June 1970) is a Belgian journalist, television presenter, director and politician, who has been serving as the European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management and Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2024. Prior to that, she served as the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2022 to 30 November 2024.
Hadja Lahbib was born on 21 June 1970 in Boussu, near the city of Mons, to a Francophone family of Algerian Kabyles. Her parents are practicing Muslims, but she says she is more attracted to Buddhism.
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.
Before starting her political career, Hadja Lahbib visited the 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."
Before she was appointed 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 28 July 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."
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Hadja Lahbib
Hadja Lahbib (French pronunciation: [adʒa labib]; born 21 June 1970) is a Belgian journalist, television presenter, director and politician, who has been serving as the European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management and Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2024. Prior to that, she served as the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2022 to 30 November 2024.
Hadja Lahbib was born on 21 June 1970 in Boussu, near the city of Mons, to a Francophone family of Algerian Kabyles. Her parents are practicing Muslims, but she says she is more attracted to Buddhism.
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.
Before starting her political career, Hadja Lahbib visited the 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."
Before she was appointed 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 28 July 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."
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