Ghada Halawi wrote in “Nidaa Al-Watan”:
The French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna’s banner praised the positions of President Michel Aoun “during his long career”, and emphasized “the election of a president within the constitutional deadlines.” The diplomatic visit reopened the doors of Lebanese-French communication through official channels and through the Presidency of the Republic, which enhances the possibility that the coming hours will witness second steps at the level of this relationship.
The aim of the visit is to re-energize the stagnant French efforts, from which no far-reaching results are expected, but it has modified the negative French climate that prevailed throughout the past period, and devoted a realistic return in the time off to say that France will be on the side of Lebanon in the governmental and presidential vacuums, without having a role in the settlement. at either level.
Once once more, France returns to Lebanon, its gateway to the Middle East and the only foothold it has left in the region. France does not miss an opportunity shown by the legitimate guardian of Lebanon and its tender mother.” Her attempts do not always count on results. Since the visit of its president, Emmanuel Macron, it has not succeeded in pushing for a solution to any of the crises in Lebanon. Its internal conditions did not help it at all, and it witnessed successive upheavals before the Ukrainian-Russian war negatively affected it. It is to be noted that France is constantly striving to be on the side of Lebanon. It also records its repeated attempts, whether with the Americans or with Saudi Arabia, to urge aid to Lebanon. Regardless of the results, France is the only European country that did not leave Lebanon, but in return it was unable to achieve that rescue breach. Since Macron’s visit, she has not been able to put an end to the American role, which disturbed her interference and surrounded her role in the wake of the port explosion, and failed her quest to host a Lebanese national dialogue under her sponsorship. It also failed to secure international aid to Lebanon, and all it reached was to provide limited aid in cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Throughout the crisis and since October 17 until today, France has remained present, albeit morally. Colonna’s visit for hours to Lebanon falls within the context of emphasizing the role, without the senior diplomat carrying a French initiative or a password related to the multiplicity of internal Lebanese entitlements.
But just because the visit came in the wake of the agreement on the maritime demarcation, and in the wake of the failure of two sessions to agree on the name of a new presidential candidate, and the failure to reach an agreement with the IMF means that the three files were inevitably attended in their visits to the presidential headquarters. At the three stations, as at the airport, she stressed the necessity of electing a new president of the republic while respecting the constitutional entitlement, and that “the historic agreement concluded by Lebanon with Israel regarding the demarcation of maritime borders will not replace the reforms that remain a priority, and the agreement with the World Bank must be implemented.” But what the French Foreign Minister did not announce, is her stress to officials that there is no presidential candidate for her country and she will not work to support a particular figure as much as she seeks to urge the concerned parties to agree on electing a president at the end of this year at the latest. I also avoided getting into the name game or appearing as a supporter of one character at the expense of another.
With regard to the maritime demarcation, she said that the main role was played by the Americans, but her country was present and facilitated the agreement, explaining the steps of the French company “Total Energy”, which will conduct exploration in the Lebanese field of Qana in search of gas.
It is not possible to talk regarding a new French campaign, the French visitor, as much as it is a confirmation of the presidency and the regularity of the work of the institutions and the success of the negotiations with the IMF, that is, raising issues related to the interests of her country and her presence in Lebanon. The file of the displaced was not absent from the discussions, and Lebanon demanded that France play a auxiliary role in returning them to their homes in order to avoid a future crisis due to Lebanon’s inability to continue hosting them. Her answer was that “the key to this situation is the improvement of the situation in Syria.” This means that France is still contingent on the return of the displaced to a political solution. A ministerial source described the visit as being limited to congratulating the maritime agreement and pressing for the formation of a new government and the election of a president so that Lebanon might stand once more and restore its role and position in the region. But it was also remarkable that her talk regarding the government depends on the election of a “new president” to be “in the future a fully functioning government.” In other words, it exceeded the change of the current government, because the most important thing in France is to elect a president to be built on the basis of what is required.