Eichhorst Urges Effective Implementation of Disassociation Policy

European Union Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst said on Friday that armed groups are moving daily between Lebanon and Syria, considering that the disassociation policy adopted by the government requires actual implementation.

“Armed groups shouldn't be allowed to move between Lebanon and Syria as they are threatening the situation locally,” Eichhorst said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

The EU diplomat urged all parties to cooperate to safeguard Lebanon against the negative repercussions of the developments in the region.

Although Eichhorst hailed the government's disassociation policy, she called on officials to apply it.

The Baabda Declaration reflects the policy, in which the country's rival politicians have vowed to distance Lebanon from the regional and international conflicts.

However, Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the crisis in Syria as the March 8 alliance continuously expresses its support to Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the March 14 camp voices its support for the popular revolt.

Reports emerged recently to the surface that Hizbullah fighters are engaged in battles against rebels in Syrian territories.

Hizbullah has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, though its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction.

The EU is currently split on blacklisting Hizbullah in the wake of a February 5 announcement by Sofia that the party was behind a July bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and their local driver.

Eichhorst said that the EU is cooperating with the government in several fields, voicing the EU's readiness to offer Lebanon military aid and boost the capabilities of security forces in law enforcement.

The EU official held later in the day talks with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

The two officials discussed the recent developments locally and in the region.

She reiterated the EU's hope that the upcoming parliamentary elections would be held on time.

The EU official expressed hope earlier, in comments to As Safir newspaper that the polls would be carried out within the constitutional timeframe based on a consensual electoral law that represents all sides.

“No one knows if the elections will be carried out on time... There is still time” to find consensus, Eichhorst pointed out.

She stressed that the EU is looking forward for the Lebanese to agree on an electoral law that represents all factions, pointing out that it's a local affair.

The polls are likely to be postponed if the parliament gives the green light to the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees on Tuesday.

It divides Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.

But the proposal has been rejected by al-Mustaqbal bloc, the centrist National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat, and March 14 opposition’s Christian independent MPs. It has been also criticized by President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.