Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has summoned US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White for the second time this year after a mocking Instagram post, Politico reports.
In an Instagram post, US President Donald Trump’s spokesman in Belgium asked, alongside an apparently AI-generated image of Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke on a pack of cigars, “Who is the biggest loser in Belgium?” The cigar box’s lid, in a clear mockery of the health minister’s efforts to change the warning labels used in alcohol advertisements, reads “Harms every joy in life.”
In a statement to Politico, Prévot said it was unacceptable for the ambassador to use such offensive language against a member of the government. He also confirmed that he had summoned White to explain himself.
A spokesman for the Belgian Health Ministry declined to comment on the situation.
The Belgian brewers’ union is protesting this week
against a law proposed by Vandenbroucke that would change the warning label from “alcohol abuse causes health damage” to “alcohol causes health damage.”
White was previously summoned to the Foreign Ministry in February after he accused Brussels of anti-Semitism when it opened an investigation into three Jewish mohels in Antwerp who were suspected of performing circumcisions without proper medical qualifications. He called the investigation “nonsense” and pressured Vandenbroucke to intervene.
Conner Rousseau, the leader of Vandenbroucke’s Vooruit party, responded to White’s post on Instagram, saying the ambassador knows nothing about healthcare and is only doing what “Daddy Trump” wants.
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