French President Emmanuel Macron may scrap a visit to Lebanon, scheduled for February, if the country fails to form a new government.
French sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Lebanese authorities had received a warning from France that Macron may cancel his trip if the current stalling in the formation of a cabinet persists.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has given Beirut a week at most to reach an agreement to form a government, they revealed.
Moreover, he warned that failure to form a new cabinet will force Paris to renege on its financial and economic pledges towards Beirut.
Macron will kick off a visit to Egypt Sunday.
Despite holding parliamentary elections in May, Lebanon has failed to form a new government due to political bickering among various rival powers.
Le Drian also included Iran in his warning, pointing to repercussions it will incur if it continues to develop its missiles program and to destabilize the region.
The minister highlighted Tehran’s arms and rocket shipments to armed groups in the Middle East, specifically Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lebanese sources were not surprised with the escalation in French rhetoric against Iran, wondering if it was directly linked to recent talks held Wednesday between Macron and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
This week Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri said after meeting other senior political figures that matters were “positively crystallizing” and he hoped to resolve the issue next week.
The credit ratings agency Moody’s this week downgraded Lebanon’s sovereign debt, citing the uncertain movement toward forming a government, and Lebanese bonds have suffered in recent weeks.
Lebanon is one of the world’s most indebted countries and its finance minister has warned it is already in an economic crisis, which has started to turn into a financial crisis and which he hopes will not become a monetary crisis.
