An envoy of French President Emmanuel Macron is set to land in Beirut on Wednesday night to deliver a message to Lebanese officials about the upcoming support conference intended to provide economic assistance for Lebanon’s state as part of the French initiative.
According to Al-Akhbar, the message entails a warning regarding the stalling currently obstructing the formation of a Lebanese Cabinet headed by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
If the government was not formed by the end of November, which is when the economic support conference is set to take place, the conference’s objective would change into a humanitarian one instead, the newspaper reported.
This means that, instead of supporting the Lebanese state, the conference will aim to provide aid to civil society organizations, if no government is formed soon.
Despite its initial deadline being missed by Lebanon’s politicians, the French initiative to help Lebanon out of its crisis has not been pulled back by France.
Last week, French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo affirmed that her country continues to support Lebanon through the initiative, which requires the necessary reforms to be implemented as a prerequisite to unlocking support.
But for reforms to take place, naturally, there has to be a government to implement them.
So far, PM-designate Saad Hariri has not succeeded in forming a Cabinet that conforms with the French initiative, as he promised he would do.
With this new warning, he has barely 3 weeks left to bring out not just a government, but a government of specialists that is able and willing to implement reforms, so that the fruit of the French initiative’s can finally be picked.
