France will host a new international conference for Lebanon on the first anniversary of the August 4 explosion, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron will organize the conference with help from the U.N., “to respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose situation is deteriorating every day,” the Foreign Ministry said.
This comes a day after Lebanon’s now-resigned Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced that he has stepped down from his position, which he remained in for nearly 9 months without being able to break Lebanon’s political deadlock.
The Ministry said that Hariri‘s failure to form a government “confirms the political deadlock which Lebanese leaders have deliberately continued for months, even as Lebanon sinks into an unprecedented economic and social crisis.”
It explained that there is now an “absolute urgency” to remove what it called a “deliberate and unacceptable obstacle” and allow the rapid appointment of a new prime minister and the formation of a new government.
President Macron had hosted an emergency aid conference for Lebanon in the aftermath of the Beirut Port explosion back in August 2020, securing around 250 million euros in support from various countries.
France has since been pushing for the swift formation of a government that would be able to implement reforms and effectively execute an economic recovery plan in Lebanon.
However, the Lebanese ruling class has been stalling the crucial process ever since the current caretaker government dissolved in August.
