To have a chance at earning their financial aid, Lebanon must show foreign powers its willingness to cooperate. However, by the looks of it, the country has only been straying off course in this matter.
Despite the prevailing atmosphere, “Lebanon will not do without the West,” especially France, “which sent its foreign minister to stress the importance of reforms,” Minister of Information Manal Abdel Samad told Radio Voice of All Lebanon.
With that said, Abdel Samad reiterated the importance of undergoing the aforementioned reforms, maintaining “the necessity for all state institutions to cooperate in the desired reform process.”
This call, which has at this point become a routine in Lebanese politics, rings true especially after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian‘s recent visit to Lebanon, at the conclusion of which he made an unoptimistic statement.
Nonetheless, the Lebanese Information Minister emphasized that the decision in many files is not owned by the government. Instead, “it is related to internal and external political factors.”
Echoing the affirmation that people’s deposits are a “red line” for the government, she noted that Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh cannot be held solely responsible for the bankruptcy that Lebanon has reached.
“… The state, the central bank, and the banks must be involved in bearing the losses,” she stressed.
Notably, Abdel Samad recently announced that PCR tests, which she had requested to be done at the Ministry of Information, all came out negative.
The tests were duly performed after concerns about the potential presence of infected cases among the Ministry’s employees.
