PM Diab: Cabinet will take decisive decisions to overcome crisis

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Monday that that the Lebanese state is “weak,” adding that the country is passing through a very difficult time.

“The Lebanese people fear for their present and for their future, this fear extends over their financial, economic, social and living situation as well as health concerns,” Diab said during a meeting with members of the diplomatic corps headed by Dean Joseph Habis.

“The Lebanese state is no longer able to protect the Lebanese people,” he noted.

Diab also stressed that the Cabinet "will take decisive decisions to overcome the crisis."

"Today we are facing huge dilemmas whereas the mechanisms of the State are still staggering under archaic sectarian constraints, rampant corruption, the weight of various sectarian interests, the prevailing imbalance in the administration and the lack of vision within the institutions," he added.

"We are determined to dismantle all those complexities and to bring Lebanon to the level of a state, while tackling endemic problems," Diab stressed during his speech.

For his part, Habis said that the Honorary Consular Corps "has faith in Diab’s Cabinet."

“We come here today with hopes, and agree with the Lebanese people that the time for change has come, and turning back is no longer an option,” he added.

Habis highlighted the need to fight corruption, stating that is has become a “comprehensive national goal”.