Lebanon crisis: Macron proposes a ‘French-style’ solution

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Lebanon needs honest presidents of the republic and government as a way out of the current political crisis.

Macron, who spoke to Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper after attending the Baghdad II conference in Jordan last Tuesday, said, “I believe that the solution to Lebanon’s problem lies in solving the problems of the people, restructuring the financial system, and then developing a plan with honest presidents of the republic and government.”

Macron said he will take initiatives on Lebanon in the coming weeks, denying the possibility of convening an international conference on Lebanon.

“What interests me are the Lebanese and the Lebanese because the class that lives at the expense of the country does not have the courage to change,” the French president said, expressing his displeasure with those who “are at the expense of their country and want to survive and are blackmailed”.

Macron also defended Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, calling him “not giving in to those who have become rich at the expense of the people and want extortion and survival.”

He stressed the need to contribute to finding an alternative political solution through concrete programs and projects, while not tolerating the political class.

Macron refused to go into the names of the presidential candidates in Lebanon, saying, “Lebanon needs a president and a prime minister who is honest and we want to help the prime minister, Najib Mikati, who is after all making efforts to work.”

Referring to the presence of Hezbollah in the Lebanese arena, Macron said it “is present in Lebanon on the security and covert levels, and also officially exists and benefits from a political system and mechanism.”

The French president said he would not visit Lebanon at this time because it was not the right time to do so, but confirmed that he would visit the peacekeeping forces.

Lebanon has been without a president since President Michel Aoun’s term ended on October 31st after parliament failed to elect a successor during 10 sessions.

Lebanon has been living through a severe economic crisis that has affected every aspect of life, in addition to a political crisis that has prevented caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati from announcing his new cabinet since May.

Referring to the results of the Baghdad II conference, Macron said that “no solution to the problems of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria can be found except within the framework of dialog to reduce Iran’s regional influence.”

“We saw from 2019 to 2020 that former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was willing to move forward with work, and on this basis, we developed, starting in 2020, a strategy with former President Barham Salih and al-Kadhimi aimed at helping them strengthen Iraq’s sovereignty,” he said.

“We need economic support to strengthen sovereignty with Iran at the conference table, and help us create solutions based on massive energy projects that help us to engage in the regional game that allows us to talk with Iran, but not only with Iran,” they told us.

He pointed out that Lebanon was not invited to the conference, because it is on a different agenda, and the priority is to have a stable executive authority, adding “We will work in the coming weeks on a similar framework with Lebanon.”