Macron will send adviser to follow up on government formation in Lebanon

Macron will send adviser to follow up on government formation in Lebanon
February 9, 2021, 11:31 am

French President Emmanuel Macron meets members of the military mobilised for the reconstruction of the port of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon September 1, 2020. (File photo: Reuters)

French President Macron will send his adviser for Near Eastern affairs, Patrick Durel to Lebanon this weekend, and he will meet with several officials as he follows the Lebanese file on a daily basis, local Lebanese TV station MTV reported.

Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented economic and political crisis with the political parties in control failing to agree on a roadmap to resolve the crisis. French President Emanuel Macron proposed a resolution plan for the small nation, but it has not been adopted yet by politicians in office.

French sources told the station that the United Arab Emirates is a main partner in the French endeavors, which have been strengthened after a US mandate. The source added that Macron will visit Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in a few weeks, where he will attend the Lebanese file in his talks.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has recently visited the UAE, France, and Egypt which showed that the government formation process may have been facilitated through regional powers.

French President Emmanuel Macron told Al Arabiya last month that he would pay a third visit to Lebanon, less than a year after he made two trips in an attempt to speed up the formation of a new government.

Macron, who took the lead on forming a roadmap for Lebanon to crawl out of its unprecedented economic crisis, told Al Arabiya that the French proposal was “still on the table” because there were “no other solutions available.”

Sources close to the French President recently told a Lebanese newspaper that Macron’s visit will happen once the French initiative has been adopted and when a new government is formed.