At a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 6 February, Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, reaffirmed the Grand Duchy’s commitment to supporting the United Nations mission in Libya where emergency assistance is still needed by 1.3 million people.
"Luxembourg welcomes the fact that the international community is trying to act in a more coherent and unified way with respect to Libya, but more efforts must be made at the regional level where the actors continue to pursue different objectives,” said Minister Asselborn.
The Minister also called on the respective parties to implement the UN-brokered Skhirat Agreement that outside powers hope will bring stability and unity to the country.
“For Luxembourg, the political agreement of Skhirat of 17 December 2015 remains valid, but it must be implemented, in particular by a vote of investiture of the Libyan Parliament in Tobrouk," said Minister Asselborn.
The Council discussed latest developments relating to the peace process in the Middle East, in particular last Wednesday’s announcement by Israel that it would construct an additional 3,000 settlements within the occupied West Bank.
“This is the fourth announcement of the kind in less than two weeks. It is very worrying,” said Minister Asselborn, adding that "by pursuing colonisation, the Israeli government is directly jeopardising the prospect of a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as the two-state solution may become impossible."
Calling for "substantial EU conclusions" on the matter, Minister Asselborn concluded by recalling the special role of the EU "in order to prevent another outbreak of violence".
Image: Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn
