Luxembourg has deployed a CGDIS rescue team and its emergency.lu satellite communications system to earthquake-hit Venezuela through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, as the death toll from twin 24 June quakes passes 1,430 with tens of thousands missing. The foreign ministry says 22 nationals registered in the country have not contacted consular services.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel has paired a blunt verdict on Russia's invasion — that Moscow 'made a big mistake' — with a call for the EU to re-engage Vladimir Putin directly. Behind the rhetoric, Luxembourg has committed more than €550 million to Ukraine, supported every EU sanctions package and is roughly doubling its defence budget by 2030.
As Donald Trump hails a 14-point agreement to end the war with Iran, Luxembourg's foreign minister Xavier Bettel offered a four-word caveat - 'It's a long time till Friday' - that captured Europe's wary mood. EU institutions welcomed the deal while tying sanctions relief to verified changes in Tehran's behaviour, and the bargain's hardest questions on uranium and verification remain deferred.
Meeting in Luxembourg on 15 June, EU foreign ministers once more failed to muster the unanimity needed to sanction Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel, among the bloc's sharpest critics of its inaction, has accused larger members of hiding behind history to excuse paralysis on Gaza.