The newly designated Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Sandra De Waele, took office this week.

Ambassador De Waele met with caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bou Habib, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, an EU Delegation statement said.

Speaker Nabih Berri is carrying on with his call for dialogue and is awaiting the final stances of the parties, sources from his bloc told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, while noting that “a large number of blocs have announced their support for the initiative, including Christian parliamentary blocs.”

MP Jimmy Jabbour of the Free Patriotic Movement meanwhile told Radio VDL (93.3) that “the FPM respects the stances of the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party” on rejecting dialogue, but noted that “the only way to reach results is going to dialogue among the Lebanese so that foreign solutions don’t get imposed on them.”

Will political blocs engage in dialogue to elect a president before the end of September? While Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly cautious yet optimistic, some parties have lauded his initiative and others have rejected it.

The Speaker had called for a seven-day dialogue, following which open presidential election sessions would be held.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Tuesday called Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and discussed with him the latest developments in Lebanon, especially the presidential election file, Geagea’s press office said.

The phone talks come a day after al-Rahi met in Diman with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti has noted that nothing will change in the work of the U.N. peacekeeping force with the latest renewal of its mandate, adding that partnership with the Lebanese Army will continue.

In an interview with al-Hurra television, Tenenti pointed out that the U.N. resolution that extended the Force’s mandate contains the same wording that was used in 2006.

Saudi Arabia has stressed the need to “finalize the Lebanese presidential juncture as soon as possible so that it contributes to rescuing Lebanon.”

The kingdom’s stance came in a statement issued by the Saudi embassy after talks in Diman between Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri reassured Monday that the Central Bank will not finance the Lebanese state, neither in dollar nor in LBP.

"The decision is final," Mansouri said in an interview with al-Arabiyya, stressing that the state must find other ways to finance its budget deficit.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has anew rejected Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue and said the opposition will confront what he called “Hezbollah’s coup.”

“We are the advocates of dialogue and we’re the ones who are adhering to Lebanon and partnership the most. The moment in which Hezbollah decides to reconsiders its approach we will be ready for dialogue and for finding the solutions that relieve everyone so that we live together, but we are not ready to be second-class citizens,” Gemayel said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has accused Hezbollah of being behind the kidnap and murder of LF member Elias Hasrouni last month, noting that the incident “resembles the dialogue that the Axis of Defiance has been calling for since months.”

“They invite you to dialogue to strangle you and kill you or to stifle your principles, beliefs and freedom and force you to do what they want,” Geagea said in an annual speech commemorating the “martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance”.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri has renewed his call on political blocs to engage in dialogue to elect a president before the end of September, after 10 months of presidential void.

Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one.