Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel appeared before the relevant parliamentary committee on Monday morning to brief MPs on the government’s legal analysis concerning potential sanctions on individuals and goods. The discussions revolved around entry bans for sanctioned persons and trade restrictions, both of which, Bettel said, are more complicated than they may appear at first.
Currently, there is no legal basis to prevent sanctioned individuals from entering Luxembourg. Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) MP Laurent Zeimet said he understood Bettel’s explanation: “Yes, his reasoning is sound. If a legal basis is missing, it’s naturally difficult to ban someone from entering the territory. The question now is whether we want to give ourselves that possibility.”
Such a legal measure would fall under the remit of Interior Minister Léon Gloden, who Bettel said is open to drafting a corresponding text.
As for potential sanctions on goods such as products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which have drawn international criticism, Bettel explained that enforcement would be difficult. “The problem is that in reality, it’s extremely complicated. We import a lot. Take oranges, for instance. They’re delivered to Amsterdam or Frankfurt, and from there enter the European single market. That means controls are extremely difficult. If we want to take symbolic action, the best way would be to reach decisions at EU level.”
David Wagner from The Left (Déi Lénk) on the other hand was not satisfied with the explanations but acknowledged the problem at hand: “A country like Israel cheats. If oranges come from settlements and are picked there, but then packaged in Israel, they are labelled as Israeli produce. So we would still need a way to trace them back.”
The idea that Luxembourg could unilaterally sanction individuals or goods remains complex. Green MP Sam Tanson said she had expected more from Bettel:
“I understood it as if he were working on a legal framework. But today he came to the committee with an armada of civil servants only to tell us they won’t propose one. The only potential step could be taken by the Ministry of the Interior, to bar certain individuals from entering the territory. But even that would be unrelated to international conflicts.”
Tanson added that when it came to financial sanctions, the Foreign Minister had merely referred the matter to the Ministry of Finance.
