Macron: French Road Map Essential to Averting Lebanon’s Collapse
By Staff, Agencies
Implementation of the French road map is essential to attracting international aid and averting Lebanon’s economic collapse, French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday in his latest plea to Lebanese leaders to act to quickly form a new government to enact reforms.
In a message to President Michel Aoun congratulating him on the 77th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence from France, Macron vowed that his country would stand by the side of the Lebanese people as the country was facing its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War which has been exacerbated by the August deadly explosion that devastated Beirut Port and damaged large areas in the capital.
Macron, whose country has emerged as the main power broker in Lebanon since the port blast, urged Aoun to call on all political factions to put aside their sectarian interests for the sake of the country.
“I am extremely worried as a result of the current situation in your country. I am aware of the increasing difficulties faced by the Lebanese in their daily lives. They can count on France’s support to fulfill their urgent needs in the fields of food, health, education and accommodation,” Macron said in his message, which was carried by the state-run National News Agency. “We are working in cooperation with the United Nations and our partners in order to hold an international conference to support the Lebanese people.”
Reuters later reported that France would host a video conference on Dec. 2 with international partners to discuss humanitarian aid for Lebanon.
Quoting three sources aware of the matter, Reuters said the meeting, in conjunction with the United Nations, would aim to have the highest-level representation possible with the objective of soliciting aid for the country.
The sources said that given the worsening economic situation and the COVID-19 pandemic, France had decided to press ahead with the humanitarian conference.
"There isn’t huge appetite to help Lebanon from the international community, but relief should go directly to the people," said one person aware of the conference.
The French presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Macron stressed that his country’s support for Lebanon alone was not enough to overcome its crisis.
“The multifaceted crisis that Lebanon is going through on various economic, financial, social and political levels calls for taking strong measures. Solutions are known: They lie in the need to put into effect the road map to which all Lebanese political parties committed on Sept. 1,” Macron said.
Declaring that the French road map would meet the requirements of Lebanon’s friends to assist it, as well as the demands of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who staged a nationwide popular uprising against the entrenched political elite in October last year calling for an overhaul of the country’s sectarian-based ruling system, he said: “Putting this road map into effect will guarantee the mobilization of the international community that is necessary to avoid the country’s collapse and help it enact the inevitable reforms in order for it to rise again.”
Macron emphasized that the urgency of the situation in Lebanon called for the formation of a government made up of “qualified and trustworthy persons capable of implementing all these measures.”
