European ministers meet Palestinian PM, commit to support Palestinian elections
Meeting in Brussels with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, European senior officials pledged to support holding Palestinian national elections soon and advancing Palestinian reform plans.
BRUSSELS — Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh met Tuesday in Brussels with Belgium Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki was also present at the meeting, which was kept surprisingly low-key, with no statements released afterward by the Belgium Foreign Ministry.
Shtayyeh arrived on Monday in Brussels at the invitation of the European Union Commissioner on Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, on the occasion of the monthly meeting of the European foreign ministers. The encounter between Shtayyeh and the European ministers took place over lunch and was qualified as informal. The reason for that was mainly because Shtayyeh was invited by Borrell and not by the Swedish presidency of the EU. Another reason was the goal of establishing a candid dialogue and not searching for an agreed-upon statement.
