Hopes for a resolution to the endless crisis in Lebanon were once again showered on Monday, March 22.
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun have failed to agree on the formation of a new government, after months of deadlock in a country in the throes of economic collapse.
Depreciation of the Lebanese pound, explosion of poverty and unemployment: all indicators have turned bright red in a Lebanon where the erosion of purchasing power and precariousness continue to fuel the anger of the population, with demonstrations and sporadic road blockages.
Under the distressed gaze of the international community, the political class, accused of corruption and of letting the country sink, still seems impervious to the emergency and disconnected from reality, pushing the head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves le Drian to demand "levers" from the European Union in order to "put pressure" on Lebanese officials.
"Lebanon is adrift, this country is loosening," he declared upon arriving in Brussels for a meeting with his EU counterparts.
"We know that the solutions exist. We need a government that is an inclusive, operational government, a government of action and we need reforms. We know that the reforms are fully shared by the entire international community." , he recalled.
🇫🇷🇪🇺 Statement by @JY_LeDrian on his arrival at the Foreign Affairs
Council⬇️ • Protection of #Human Rights
• La🇫🇷 wished to address the issue of #Lebanon: Europe must be there
• Attacks of 🇧🇪 (22.03 .16): meditation and mobilizationpic.twitter.com/IwHoqTNKGw
- France Diplomacy🇫🇷 (@francediplo) March 22, 2021
Hariri and Aoun at loggerheads
Monday's meeting between Saad Hariri and Michel Aoun also turned to bitter and public accusations between the two men, raising fears of a total impasse.
No new meeting date has been announced.
In a fiery televised address from the presidential palace, Saad Hariri violently took sides with Michel Aoun after a brief meeting with him, accusing him of hindering the formation of the government by insisting on a "blocking minority" within the next ministerial team and by seeking to impose a "confessional and partisan" distribution of portfolios.
"The job of the Prime Minister-designate is not to fill out papers (...) and it is not up to the President of the Republic to form a government," Saad Hariri said head on during a press conference.
Calling it "the only and last chance for the country", he reiterated his attachment to a government of technocrats, called for internationally "responsible for launching reforms and stopping the collapse" and unblocking substantial foreign aid .
The expression serious, the tone jerky, Saad Hariri assured to have submitted to President Aoun a "draft" of government "for 100 days", before unveiling it to the press, the names of ministers in support.
The Presidency of the Republic immediately denied in a statement any hint of a "blocking minority" and expressed its "astonishment" at the "words" and tone of Saad Hariri.
A political dead end
Three times prime minister, Saad Hariri, was tasked at the end of October, a year after his fall under pressure from the streets, to form a new government.
But five months later, the parties remain absorbed in their usual bargaining in a multi-faith country put in cuts regulated by the barons of the various communities.
The current government, responsible for current affairs, resigned in August after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut (more than 200 dead, thousands injured), a coup de grace for a population already on their knees.
If Saad Hariri remains intractable on the subject of a government of specialists, to which Paris is favorable, it is in particular to relaunch negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, and "to restore the confidence of the international community".
But the leader of Hezbollah's influential Shiite movement, Hassan Nasrallah, an ally of President Aoun, called on him on Thursday to review his formula.
"A government of technocrats that is not protected by political forces will not be able to save the country or take major decisions", argued Nasrallah.
The Prime Minister designate had already met Michel Aoun Thursday after yet another outbreak of fever.
The president issued him an ultimatum, urging him to form a government "immediately" or to return his apron.
The economic crisis is accompanied by a sharp depreciation on the black market of the national currency, having reached a new historic peak last week at 15,000 pounds per dollar before falling.
The official rate remains at 1,507 pounds to the dollar.
The injunctions of the international community have failed to bring out of its torpor a political class which has already survived in the fall of 2019 an unprecedented popular uprising lambasting the "corruption" and "incompetence" of the leaders.
With AFP
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