After French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France and its European partners are to begin a military withdrawal from Mali after more than nine years fighting a jihadist insurgency, FRANCE 24 speaks to Belgium's prime minister. Alexander De Croo calls the French-led pullout "unfortunate" and insists it is "important to not break any ties with Mali. We are very concerned about the political developments, but the moment you break ties, we don't have any influence anymore. It's important for the Sahel region to get stabilised."
On the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis, De Croo points out the "surprising unity among EU and NATO" in confronting the potential threat against Kyiv and urges a real de-escalation – "words are easy but we need to see actions".
On Thursday, the prime minister handed over a list of 85,000 artefacts to DR Congo. He tells FRANCE 24 more about the decision and what might happen next. De Croo describes this as the "right approach", saying "it's not normal that for certain countries their whole history is in Brussels or Paris.”
Submit your views and put forward your ideas on the role of the EU in the world to the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Produced by Luke Brown, Sophie Samaille, Yi Song, Isabelle Romero and Perrine Desplats
