BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) - Belgian foreign affairs minister Hadja Lahbib is facing calls for resignation after granting visas to delegations from Iranian and Russian cities to attend a mayors convention in Brussels last week.
State secretary for external relations & foreign trade of the Brussels government Pascal Smet resigned on Sunday over the all-expenses paid trip.
I am now asking the organizers, Metropolis, to bear these costs," Smet told a press conference on Sunday.
Why only three weeks after the release of Olivier Vandecasteele, she accepts that terrorists come to Brussels?
And why must the name of Belgium always be sullied by foreign relations which it cannot manage to control?"
Persons:
Hadja Lahbib, Lahbib, Olivier Vandecasteele, Pascal Smet, Smet, Darya Safai, Safai, Marine Strauss, Benoit Van Overstraeten
Organizations:
Belgian, Brussels Urban, European Commission, Sunday, Thomson
Locations:
BRUSSELS, Belgian, Brussels, Vandecasteele, Iran, Iranian, Belgium, Bogota, Kyiv, Tehran, Kazan