Macron’s Envoy: New Cabinet, Reforms Needed to Unlock Aid to Lebanon

By Staff, Agencies

A special envoy of French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday prodded Lebanon’s political leaders to speed up the formation of a Cabinet of specialists to deliver reforms as an essential move to unlock promised international aid to the crises-ridden country, an official source said.

Patrick Durel, an adviser to Macron for Middle East and North Africa affairs, held talks separately with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri centering on reviving the French initiative to rescue Lebanon’s collapsing economy and accelerating the formation of a new government to deliver urgent reforms. He later met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt and MP Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s 13-member bloc in Parliament.

Durel, who arrived here Wednesday night, is set to meet Friday with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Free Patriotic Movement head MP Gebran Bassil, who was slapped with US sanctions last week.

“The French envoy is conveying the same message to all Lebanese leaders on the need to hasten the formation of a Cabinet of specialists to carry out the reform program agreed upon by Lebanese politicians during their meeting with President Macron at the Pine Palace,” the official source said according to The Daily Star. He was referring to Macron’s meeting with heads of various Lebanese blocs at the French ambassador’s residence in Beirut during his visit to Lebanon on Sept. 1, when Macron presented a French road map to save Lebanon from a series of multiple crises, compounded by the August deadly explosion that pulverized Beirut Port and destroyed half of the capital.

“The French envoy stressed that the implementation of reforms outlined in the French initiative is essential to unlock international aid to Lebanon,” the source said.

In addition to Lebanese-French relations, Durel’s talks with Lebanese leaders focused on the swift formation of a government made up of nonpartisan specialists to implement the French initiative, the source added.

“Durel’s visit has raised hope for making a breakthrough in the Cabinet formation deadlock,” the source said, adding that the visit reflected Macron’s determination to help Lebanon emerge out of its worst economic and financial crisis in decades.

The French envoy’s visit comes as Hariri’s attempts to form a new government of nonpartisan specialists to enact reforms, already stalled by rival factions’ jockeying for key ministerial posts, are facing new complications following last week’s imposition of US sanctions on Bassil over corruption charges.

The US sanctions on Bassil, who heads the FPM’s 24-member Strong Lebanon bloc, the largest bloc in Parliament, threatened to bring the Cabinet formation process back to square one after Bassil responded to the sanctions by hardening his stance and setting conditions for the formation that run counter to Hariri’s proposed 18-member Cabinet of specialists.

According to the source, the French envoy told Lebanese leaders that another international donor conference to extend humanitarian aid to Lebanon following the port blast, originally set for October but was postponed until this month, was still scheduled. “But setting a final date for this conference is waiting for the formation of a government in Lebanon,” the source added.

During the meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace, Durel pointed to the “delicate and grave economic crisis and the need to speed up the formation of an efficient government acceptable by all the parties in order to begin implementing the required reforms and restore the international community’s confidence,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Affirming the strong relations between Lebanon and France, Durel said: “France will continue extending urgent assistance in several fields, particularly in the educational field.” But he stressed that for the international community to honor its pledges to extend financial aid to Lebanon, this was contingent on implementation of reforms.

Aoun told Durel that Lebanon “adhered to the French initiative, which is in the interest of Lebanon.”

“But this matter will not be achieved except through a reliable government that is capable of implementing the required reforms contained in the blueprint agreed upon between President Macron and Lebanese political leaders and with an effective coordination with international partners who have pledged to help Lebanon out of the difficult economic and financial conditions through which it is passing,” Aoun said, according to a statement released by his media office.

Aoun said Lebanon was facing challenges, including the economic crisis, the repercussions of the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the alarming spike in coronavirus infections and the port explosion, that required “a broad national consensus to form a government capable of undertaking the mission required from it.”

He said the US sanctions slapped on Bassil and former ministers Ali Hasan Khalil and Youssef Fenianos had “further complicated matters,” clearly referring to the Cabinet formation deadlock.

Aoun praised Macron, whose country has emerged as the main power broker in Lebanon since the port blast, as “a great friend of Lebanon.”

Durel did not speak to reporters after his meetings with Lebanese leaders. Berri, in a statement released by his media office after his talks with the French envoy, said: “The only exit for Lebanon’s salvation is the formation of a government today, not tomorrow, with its ministers being specialists who enjoy confidence that is anxiously awaited by Parliament order to help Lebanon cross to the shores of safety.”

Durel later met with Hariri at the latter’s Beirut Downtown residence, discussing “various aspects of the situation in Lebanon, the French initiative and the issue of forming a new government,” a statement released by Hariri’s media office said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Durel, Raad called for the new government to be formed to comply with the provisions of the French initiative. “We are responsible for speeding up the Cabinet formation because the country cannot endure and the economic situation is very bad,” Raad said.

The French initiative aims to put Lebanon on a path of reforms that would eventually lead to unlocking urgent financial aid vital to shoring up the crumbling economy, burdened by a soaring public debt of over $90 billion.

The initiative also calls for resuming stalled talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $10 billion bailout package, amid rapidly shrinking foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank and a crashing Lebanese pound that has lost more than 80 percent of its value since last year.

Since his designation to form a new government on Oct. 22, Hariri has held a series of meetings with Aoun to speed up the Cabinet formation. The two leaders have agreed on an 18-member Cabinet of specialists and the rotation of the remaining three so-called “sovereign ministries” – Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs – and are currently working to distribute ministerial portfolios among the various sects. The latest complications appeared to have prevented Hariri from presenting Aoun with his first draft Cabinet lineup.

A political source said Friday the Cabinet formation process remained bogged down by the rival parties’ jockeying for public-services related ministries, such as the health, public works, telecommunications, education and social affairs portfolios.

“Another hindrance to the Cabinet formation is Hariri’s insistence on naming some of the Christian ministers in the next government and Aoun’s refusal to this matter,” the source close to the Cabinet formation process told The Daily Star.