Report: US, France agree on characteristics of new Lebanese president
Washington and Paris have agreed on the “characteristics” that Lebanon’s next president should enjoy, which include being totally uninvolved in corruption, a media report said on Thursday.
The two capitals have also agreed that the new president “should have a sober-minded behavior and should be independent and distant from regional political axes,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.
“He should also be able to oversee the project of rebuilding state institutions according to correct and strict standards, away from the policy of clientilism which the Lebanese political class is known for,” the daily added.
Moreover, the new president “must be able to communicate with all parties without being subordinate to any political group and must work to restore the state’s prestige and carry out the needed reforms in coordination with Cabinet,” al-Joumhouria said.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had said in his latest televised speech that his only condition for the presidential vote is that the next president should not “stab the resistance in its back.”
Commenting on his remarks, Western diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria that Nasrallah’s statements were “reasonable and an understanding can be reached on them.”
The sources, however, said that “it is premature to speak of an imminent settlement, because the issue needs appropriate circumstances that have not yet ripened, neither at the Lebanese level nor at the regional level.”
“This is a promising sign that can be capitalized on later,” the sources added.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/294766 |