French President Emmanuel Macron is set to arrive in Beirut on Monday to participate the next day in a ceremony commemorating the first centenary of the declaration of Greater Lebanon, sources at the Elysee Palace told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He will then hold talks with officials and politicians on reconstruction efforts in the wake of the massive explosion at the Beirut Port and the political situation in the country.
The sources expressed disappointment at the Lebanese authorities’ handling of the repercussions of the Beirut tragedy on the one hand, and their failure to address the multi-faceted crisis that has been lingering for months.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday that the repercussions of the explosion that hit Lebanon on Aug. 4 should not be used as an excuse to disregard the country’s political and economic crisis.
“The catastrophe should not be used as a pretext to obscure the reality that existed before... that is, a country on the brink of collapse,” Le Drian told reporters in the southern port city of Marseille before a ship with 2,500 tons of aid set sail for the Lebanese capital.
“We hope that this moment will be the moment which allows the Lebanese authorities, the Lebanese officials, to take the necessary leap for a government with a mission to launch the essential and needed reforms,” he added.
French sources monitoring the Lebanese situation stated that it was “necessary” for Macron to succeed in achieving “some breakthrough.”
Following former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s announcement that he was unwilling to return to the Grand Serail, the focus, according to these sources, should be on “a government of specialists with specific tasks to rebuild what was destroyed, address the humanitarian situation, and conduct reforms with a focus on the economic, financial and social situations.”
However, the dilemma lies in the fact that all decisions in Lebanon are politicized and that the main political parties are still clinging to their positions and their interests.
In the first stage, Paris has focused on humanitarian relief through the virtual conference it organized on Aug. 9, which brought about aid worth 250 million euros. However, what is required today is to achieve breakthroughs that go beyond humanitarian assistance, requiring the presence of a government able to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund, which is the only gateway to improving the financial and economic situation.
