Cécile Jodogne, the Brussels State Secretary for External Trade, thinks comments made by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duerte mean the royal visit in May 2017 shouldn’t go ahead. The President is well known for saying the wrong thing.

Duterte said on Friday that he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts in the Philippines as he drew comparisons to himself and Hitler. “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there is three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”

“It will be difficult to ensure the visit goes ahead”, she told La Libre Belgique on Saturday.

Cécile Jodogne sent an email to the Agency for External Trade’s partners (Federal authorities and the 3 regions) on Friday. She requested an emergency meeting “to discuss whether the royal visit to the Philippines should still go ahead”.

“I will ask for the visit to be moved to a different country. If Federal authorities and the two other regions don’t agree, Brussels will not send a political representative. I’m not saying no-one should go to the Philippines at all, but the problem right now is timing”, she added.

Sarah Johansson (Source: Belga)