Report: French Envoy to Meet Lebanese Officials in Beirut
French President Emmanuel Macron's advisor for North Africa and the Middle East, Patrick Durrell, is scheduled to arrive in Beirut Wednesday, in an effort to revive the French initiative, media reports said.
Durrell is scheduled to meet senior Lebanese officials and political figures during his two-day official visit to Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported.
According to the newspaper, dispatching the French envoy has raised some hopes that a breakthrough could be achieved in the stalled cabinet formation process.
Al-Joumhouria daily said Durrell will meet with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Hassan diab, PM-designate Saad Hariri and a number of political and partisan leaders related to the formation process, including PSP leader Walid Jumblat.
Durrell plans to warn of the dangerous consequences shall the government stalemate persist.
He will “test” the willingness of Lebanese officials to abide by the French initiative aimed at forming a “mission government,” capable of implementing reforms as they pledged during the Pine Residence meeting, added the daily.
The French delegate arrives in Beirut amid a worsening political stalemate after the new US sanctions against the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Jebran Bassil, said An Nahar.
Moreover, the latest meeting between Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri on the formation of a cabinet failed to make any positive development.
Source: Naharnet
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/276613 |