Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de #Croo announced plans to resign after the defeat of his party, the liberal Open #VLD.

#Belgium held a national vote on the 150 legislative seats in the Chamber of Represenatatives on June 9, the same day as its European parliamentary elections.

The conservative party N-VA led the vote, with a projected win of 24 seats. The far-right Vlaams Belang party is projected to win 20.

https://kyivindependent.com/belgian-prime-minister-alexander-de-croo-announces-resignation/

#Ukraine #Russia #EU

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa #Ollongren has reassured Kyiv that the 24 F-16 fighter jets that the #Netherlands intends to donate to #Ukraine may be used to strike targets inside #Russia.

In an interview with POLITICO at the Shangri-La Dialogue in #Singapore, Ollongren said the Netherlands would not impose a limitation as was the case with #Belgium, where Prime Minister Alexander De #Croo has warned #Kyiv not to fly the F-16s it gets from his country in Russian airspace.

https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-can-strike-russian-targets-dutch-f-16s-fighter/

Belgian arms which are to be supplied to #Ukraine under the recently signed security agreement, including F-16 fighter jets, are intended for use only on Ukrainian territory, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De #Croo said during a press conference on May 28.

De Croo's statement comes amid a growing discussion among Western allies about whether to allow Ukrainian forces to strike military targets on Russian soil.

https://kyivindependent.com/belgian-pm-ukraine-can-use-belgian-supplied-f-16s-only-on-ukrainian-territory/

#Russia #Belgium #EU #NATO

Prosecutors in #Belgium have opened an investigation into alleged payments by #Russia to members of the European parliament following an intelligence operation in #Brussels, the Belgian prime minister has revealed.

Alexander De #Croo said #Moscow’s objective was to weaken support for #Ukraine in Europe.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/12/belgium-investigates-alleged-russian-payments-to-meps

#EU

#Belgium has expelled "dozens of so-called Russian diplomats" who were "clearly spies" from the country in recent months, said Prime Minister Alexander De #Croo (Open VLD) over the weekend.

In April 2023, a survey carried out by De Tijd and its European partners found that nowhere else in Europe does #Russia have as much satellite communication equipment, used for relaying sensitive information back to Russia, as on the buildings of its embassy in Belgium

https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium-news/951093/belgium-deported-dozens-of-russian-spies-in-recent-months-de-croo-says

#Ukraine #EU