A special envoy of French President Emmanuel Macron has apparently failed to make an imminent breakthrough in his talks with Lebanon’s political leaders in the weekslong Cabinet formation impasse, political sources said Sunday, dashing hopes for the creation of a new government to enact urgent reforms.
Worse still, Patrick Durel, an adviser to Macron for Middle East and North Africa affairs, was reported to have delivered an ultimatum for rival Lebanese factions to act to quickly form a new Cabinet of specialists to deliver reforms, or else the crises-ridden country risked losing the chance to receive promised international aid to help it out of its crippling economic and financial crunch, the worst in decades.
A political source denied reports that Durel had given Lebanese politicians a two-week deadline to form a new government, saying it was longer than that. “The French envoy called for a swift Cabinet formation before the holiday season,” the source close to the Cabinet formation efforts told The Daily Star, referring to the Christmas and New Year holiday.
Durel was also reported to have warned Lebanese leaders that the failure to quickly form a new Cabinet made up of nonpartisan specialists to implement the reform blueprint contained in the French initiative would lead to the postponement of an international conference designed to drum up financial support for Lebanon following the August deadly explosion that pulverized Beirut Port and damaged half of the capital.
This comes as differences over the distribution of key ministerial posts and deciding who names Christian ministers in an 18-member Cabinet of specialists envisaged by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri persisted with no solution in sight.
“The French envoy has conveyed a clear message from President Macron to Lebanese leaders on the need to speed up the formation of a Cabinet of nonpartisan and efficient specialists to implement reforms,” an official source familiar with the matter told The Daily Star.
“Durel told Lebanese leaders that the promised international aid and the conference to support Lebanon will be at risk if a new Cabinet is not formed rapidly and steps are not taken to carry out reforms,” the source said. “Durel told Lebanese parties that it will be difficult to provide Lebanon with financial aid in the absence of a new Cabinet to enact reforms.”
The source added that it was too early to say whether Durel’s mission in Lebanon had been successful or ended in failure. “We have to wait for two or three days to see how the Lebanese parties will react to Durel’s advice and the demands he made to them on behalf of President Macron,” the source said.
“Durel did not come with a specific solution to the Lebanese crisis to impose on the Lebanese leaders he had met. He basically relayed a message from President Macron on the need to hasten the Cabinet formation,” the source added.
The French envoy’s visit came as Hariri’s attempts to form a new government of nonpartisan experts to enact reforms, already stymied by rival factions’ jockeying for key ministerial posts, are facing new complications following the Nov. 6 imposition of US sanctions on Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil over corruption charges and his ties to Hezbollah, long branded a terrorist organization by Washington.
The US sanctions on Bassil, who heads the FPM’s 24-member Strong Lebanon bloc, the largest bloc in Parliament, threatened to bring the Cabinet formation process back to square one after Bassil responded to the sanctions by hardening his stance and setting conditions for the formation that run counter to Hariri’s proposed 18-member Cabinet of specialists.
Durel held two days of talks this week with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hariri and leaders of the country’s leading political parties centering on reviving the French initiative to salvage Lebanon’s collapsing economy and accelerating the formation of a new government to deliver reforms.
Hariri and party leaders endorsed the reform blueprint during their meeting with Macron at the Pine Palace, the French ambassador’s residence in Beirut, during his visit to Lebanon on Sept. 1, when Macron presented a French road map to save Lebanon from a series of multiple crises, compounded by the port blast.
Durel stressed in his meetings with Lebanese politicians that the implementation of reforms outlined in the French initiative was essential to unlock international aid to Lebanon.
Macron, who in August organized a UN-backed donor conference for Lebanon following the port blast, has said that he will organize a second donor conference if the new “mission government” rapidly presses through a slew of key reforms contained in his roadmap.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Sunday said an attempt to compensate Bassil for the US sanctions imposed on him was to blame for obstructing the Cabinet formation.
“Because one of those allied with the resistance axis, [former] Minister Gebran Bassi, on whom US sanctions were imposed, they want to compensate him by giving him gains in the Cabinet formation. This has led to obstructing the Cabinet formation,” Geagea said in a speech, addressing a delegation from the LF doctors at the party’s headquarters in Maarab, north of Beirut. The anti-Israel “resistance axis” refers to Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.
Although the LF bloc did not nominate Hariri for the premiership, Geagea said the premier-designate was solely trying to improve the quality of the next government. In a clear reference to Hezbollah and its allies, he said: “But the other parties are concerned with breaking the head of America, regardless of the citizens’ suffering. They don’t care for this. They want a tug-of war with it [America] and break its head.”
Geagea, one of the leaders with whom Durel had met during his two-day visit to Beirut, sounded skeptical about the French envoy’s ultimatum on the need for a swift Cabinet formation.
“The French envoy came to Lebanon to tell them [political leaders] we’re done, or time is over. Therefore, either a government is formed, or all that you have hoped for, from the CEDRE conference, new contributions from Lebanon’s friendly states or the International Monetary Fund will go with the wind,” Geagea said, adding: “Do you think that this warning will affect them? Of course, not.”
The French initiative aims to put Lebanon on a path of reforms that would eventually lead to unlocking urgent financial aid vital to shoring up the crumbling economy, burdened by a soaring public debt of over $90 billion.
“While rival parties vie for public-services related ministries, such as the health, public works, telecommunications, education and social affairs portfolios, Aoun and Hariri still disagree on who should name the nine Christian ministers in the next Cabinet,” the source close to the process told The Daily Star Sunday.
“Hariri still insists on naming at least five of the Christian ministers, which Aoun rejects,” the source said.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
