Philippe Goffin (born 1 April 1967) is a Belgian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence from 30 November 2019 to 1 October 2020.

Political career

In the federal elections of 26 May 2019, he ran in

Liège Province Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium. Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Dutch province of Limburg, the ...

, in 3rd place on the

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

(MR) list led by Daniel Bacquelaine. He was re-elected to the House with 14,717 votes. On 12 November 2019, following the departure of

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

from the presidency of the MR, he stood in the internal elections of the party but failed in the first round. On 30 November 2019, he entered the federal government as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence, replacing

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) that served as List of European Commissioners for Justice and Equality, European Commissioner for Justice until 30 ...

, who became a member of the European Commission headed by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

, holding the Justice portfolio. In August 2020, Goffin said he welcomed the

Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement The Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement, officially the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement: Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel, was initially agr ...

as a step toward a peaceful Middle East and added that the suspension of the

proposed Israeli annexation of the West Bank The annexation of the West Bank, or parts thereof, to Israel has been considered by Israeli politicians since the area was captured and occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. East Jerusalem was the first part of the West Bank to be an ...

must be followed up with the

two-state solution The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the esta ...

References

External links

1967 births Foreign ministers of Belgium Living people Members of the 53rd Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 54th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 55th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 56th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Ministers of defence of Belgium Reformist Movement politicians {{Wallonia-politician-stub