In Lebanon, the controversial return of Saad Hariri

Audio 02:46

Saad Hariri, again Prime Minister of Lebanon.

AP Photo / Hussein Malla

By: Bruno Daroux Follow

7 min

As Lebanon goes through a serious political and economic crisis, Saad Hariri is once again appointed to the post of Prime Minister.

Can this return allow the country to get out of the rut?

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We must hope so while remaining cautious, as the personality of Saad Hariri does not guarantee a new deal for Lebanon.

First of all,

of the man who had to leave his post last December under pressure from the streets sadly has an air of déjà vu.

For many Lebanese who have demonstrated for months to demand better living conditions and a regenerated political system, free from denominational poison and corruption, the pill must be bitter to swallow.

All that for that, they must think.

This is therefore Saad Hariri's first challenge: to convince his public opinion that he can embody, he, the man of the seraglio, he the strong man of the Sunni clan, the renewal that the country so badly needs.

Its second very concrete and very immediate challenge is to finally form a government made up of competent personalities from civil society.

This is what the international community and in particular President Emmanuel Macron is asking for, in what is called the French initiative, the first phase of which was a failure since Saad Hariri's predecessor failed to compose this government. experts and threw in the towel, provoking anger and very harsh words from the French president against the Lebanese political class, accused of treason and corruption.  

Strengths and weaknesses of Saad Hariri

Saad Hariri has undertaken to respect this French initiative and therefore to quickly form this famous government.

A

for obtaining international aid worth several billion dollars.

Will he succeed?

That is the question.

He has some strengths for him: a long experience of power, the fact that he was accepted by the different denominations of the political class - Sunni of course, but also Christian and especially Shiite.

Mighty Hezbollah in particular did not oppose his return.

► To read also: the skeptical press after the return of Saad Harriri at the head of the government

But at the same time, this is also where its weak point lies: a virtual impossibility, as it is part of the game, to get out of a denominational logic.

The politico-religious watchmaking imagined to manage tensions between faiths has broken down.

Degraded, perverted, it turned against Lebanon.

It generates a regressive communitarianism which imprisons every Lebanese in his confessional community - whether he is a believer or not.

Abandon the denominational paradigm

For a year now, the Lebanese have been saying that they no longer want all of this.

They say that before being Druze, Shiite or Sunni Muslim or even Christian, they are Lebanese.

Will Saad Hariri manage to overcome this contradiction?

It is to be seen in the coming weeks.

If he succeeds in forming a government of experts, negotiations with the IMF can progress.

International aid which will be conditional on the entry into force of in-depth reforms of the banking and tax system in particular.

In particular to curb the country's abysmal public debt equivalent to 160% of GDP.

And of course, the political system too should abandon the denominational paradigm for good.

But this last point will be one of the hardest to achieve.

We wish Saad Hariri good luck.

► Also to listen: In Lebanon, "we can expect a trench warfare between the president and Hariri"

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• Lebanon

• Saad Hariri