Luxembourg will consider introducing legal measures to prohibit the import of goods from Israeli settlements and ban certain right-wing extremist politicians from the country from travelling to the Grand Duchy, Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel told parliament on Tuesday.
Bettel said he will propose a legal framework to the government which would allow for an entry ban to be imposed on the likes of Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who he called a real danger to a two-state solution during his annual foreign policy speech to parliament.
Legal measures would also be proposed to prohibit goods from being imported from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories to Luxembourg, the foreign minister added.
Bettel calls for an end to trade with settlements in occupied territories
The foreign minister referred to the terrible images of the Hamas attack of October 2023 but also said that while Israel initially had the right to defend itself, its subsequent actions were not justified. The repercussions of the conflict had spread abroad, with antisemitism on the rise in Europe and Muslims also living in fear of the far right, he said.
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However, Bettel warned of the danger of holding elections in Palestine too quickly. “I would rather have a transition government that could bring some stability and give Palestinians hope in change. Otherwise, we run the risk of Hamas coming to power again, and then we will have lost everything that we gained.”
‘Tour of the world’ speech
Speaking to a full house in the Chamber of Deputies, including foreign ambassadors to Luxembourg seated in the public gallery, Bettel said that instability and uncertainty were causing concern on the international stage.
Luxembourg, as a small country that enjoyed political stability was in an envious position, he said. But he also warned that there are few other countries that profit so much from a stable international context and values.
Multilateralism is in danger, Bettel said. The withdrawal, under the Trump administration, of the United States from international institutions, including their financing, was a challenge that had to be faced.
The threat to multilateralism has led many people claim that the United Nations no longer functions, the foreign minister said. He added that he has asked Grand Duke Guillaume to give Luxembourg’s address to the plenary session of UN General Assembly session in New York next September.
The foreign minister also addressed the role of the UN’s security council, which he called a “relic from after the Second World War”. Bettel said he was often frustrated that one of the five permanent members could simply block majority decisions and argues that when that happens, a two-thirds majority vote in the general assemble should be allowed to cancel the security council decision.
I am the first to say that Africa must have a place on the security council
Xavier Bettel
Luxembourg foreign minister
Speaking personally, Bettel said he would like to see a rethink of how the security council works and how it is made up. “I am the first to say that Africa must have a place on the security council,” he said.
While he praised the achievements of Donald Trump in finding a settlement between Palestine and Israel, as well as for his work in bringing calm to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Bettel said that the US president’s failure to deliver peace between Russia and Ukraine was a stumbling block to any potential Nobel Peace Prize.
“Just because you have one success [….] you can’t claim to be someone who can solve all problems,” Bettel said. “And let’s not forget, he claimed he could solve [Ukraine-Russia] in 48 hours. I hope Trump is aware that he is the one person who has the most influence in that part of the world.”
China’s influence
But Bettel also believes that China can still play a role and use its influence on Russia in a positive manner. After all, China delivers many of the components that allows Russia to build weapons, he explained.
However, western nations must not assume that China’s support for Russia is unconditional, Bettel added. “China has not always voted [in the UN] with Russia on Ukraine. We cannot allow Putin to play his ‘the west against the rest’ card,” he said.
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He was also pleased that Luxembourg was a member of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, which held a meeting on Monday and includes partner countries from further afield. It was important to show Russia that it is not just Europe that is standing with Ukraine, Bettel added.
A consequence of the geopolitical situation is that the current security architecture is unstable, Bettel said. He admitted that the European continent had for too long allowed itself to rely on the United States for its defence funding. He praised Defence Minister Yuriko Backes, as well as her predecessors François Bausch and Etienne Schneider, for taking moves to commit to and implement the required increase in defence spending increase.
“Europe First, could be a populist message, but that can never mean Europe alone or America alone,” Bettel said. Solidarity must be renewed. And he argued that the new defence budget target of 5% of gross national income should not just mean spending money. “As minister for foreign trade I am looking together with Luxembourg companies to see where we could get an economic return,” he added.
If someone had told me 26 years ago, when I first entered parliament, that one day I would be here pleading for more money for the military, I would not have believed them
Xavier Bettel
Luxembourg foreign minister
“If someone had told me 26 years ago, when I first entered parliament, that one day I would be here pleading for more money for the military, I would not have believed them,” Bettel said.
Schengen and EU expansion
Turning to closer to home, Bettel said he was concerned for the future of the Schengen accord on free movement among its signatory countries. “Schengen was a big success. We can’t allow populists to say that internal border controls stop criminality,” he said. But that can only happen if external borders and the Dublin regulation on asylum procedures works, Bettel explained.
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The foreign minister also addressed EU expansion, saying that it should not come at all costs and that there is no point in doing away with the Copenhagen criteria in a bid to accelerate the accession of candidates like Moldova or Ukraine.
And he said that he had already assigned a civil servant from the foreign ministry to lay the groundwork for preparations for the first half of 2029, when Luxembourg will take on the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
MPs will debate details of Bettel’s foreign policy address in parliament on Wednesday.
