Beirut / Wassim Saif Al-Din / Anatolia
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would take “initiatives in the coming weeks regarding (the existing political crisis in) Lebanon.”
Macron’s statement came in an interview with the Lebanese newspapers “An-Nahar”, “Le Monde” and “The Wall Street Journal” published on Friday, following his participation in the “Baghdad 2” conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, last Tuesday.
He said, “I will take initiatives in the coming weeks on all levels (regarding Lebanon), and I will make a great effort for that.”
He added, “What concerns me are the Lebanese men and women, because the political class that lives at the expense of the country does not have the courage to change.”
The French president expressed his dissatisfaction with “the behavior of this class” and his doubts regarding “the energy of the Lebanese people to push them to change.”
He continued, “We want to contribute to finding an alternative political solution by establishing tangible projects and at the same time not being lenient with the political class.”
In response to a question if he supported the candidacy of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun for the presidency, he said, “France will not enter the game of names for the presidency because it has previously intervened many times in the past and failed once out of two.”
He pointed out that “Lebanon needs an honest president and prime minister.”
He stressed that he wants “to help Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who is making efforts, despite everything, to do what is possible and not concede to those who have become rich and want to stay and extort.”
Regarding Hezbollah, the French president said that the party “exists, whether on the security or covert level, but also on the official and elected level. They benefit on the ground from the inability of the system and the political mechanism and from all of us to solve people’s problems.”
Macron believed that “Lebanon’s problem lies in solving people’s problems, restructuring the financial system, and then drawing up a plan with two honest presidents of the republic and the government.”
He expressed his conviction from the outset that “the Lebanese and Syrian problems can only be resolved within the framework of talks aimed at reducing Iran’s regional influence.”
He continued, “We will work on tangible projects, as I discussed with Jordan’s King Abdullah II a project in the electricity sector for Lebanon,” without further details.
Since last June, political differences in Lebanon have prevented the formation of a new government headed by Mikati, following Parliament assigned him once more the task following his government resigned during parliamentary elections last May.
Since last September, parliamentarians have also failed to elect a new president to succeed Michel Aoun, whose term ended on October 31, despite holding 10 parliamentary sessions for this purpose.
This crisis in Lebanon is unprecedented, with no president, a caretaker government with limited powers, and a parliament divided on several options.
Lebanon is looking for solutions to get out of the tunnel of its financial, economic and monetary crises, including knocking on the door of the International Monetary Fund to obtain a financial loan, and the possibility of floating the local currency.
And in late January 2022, the Lebanese government officially began negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on an economic recovery program in the country.
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