Macron says will take initiatives toward Lebanon in coming weeks

French President Emmanuel Macron argued that the Lebanese and Syrian problems could only be solved through talks aimed at "reducing" Iran's regional influence. 

He announced that he would take initiatives toward Lebanon in the coming weeks.

 

This article was originally published in, translated from the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar.

Macron, who denied the possibility of holding an international conference on Lebanon, was speaking to An-Nahar, Le Monde, and Wall Street Journal newspapers aboard a French presidential plane, which took him from Amman to Paris following his participation in the Baghdad II conference, and said that he would work "on concrete projects."

"I have discussed with the King of Jordan a project in the electricity sector for Lebanon," Macron said.

He considered that Lebanon's political class has "no courage for change," expressing dismay at the conduct of that class and his doubts about the capacity of the Lebanese people to push it to change.

He also noted that it was for that reason that he wanted to contribute to an alternative political solution by setting up concrete projects while at the same time "not tolerating" the political class.

In response to a question as to whether he supported the election of the Lebanese Armed Forces  Commander, Major General Joseph Aoun as president, he said that "France will not participate in the game of names for the Presidency because it has intervened many times in the past and failed once in two times." 

He considered that "Lebanon needs an honest President of the Republic and Prime Minister" and said that he wanted to help Prime Minister Najib Mikati, "who nevertheless makes efforts to do what he can and does not concede to those who got rich, and want to stay and blackmail."
 
As for Hezbollah, Macron said the party "exists at the security or hidden level, as well as at the official and elected level, and benefits from the inability of the system and the political mechanism to solve people's problems." 

He also considered that "the problem of Lebanon lies in solving the people's problems, restructuring the financial system, and then drawing up a plan with an honest president and prime minister."

He announced that Saudi Arabia had expressed cooperation with France "over the past weeks when it received Prime Minister Najib Mikati and started with the funding" but considered that as "not enough."

"I will take initiatives in the coming weeks on all levels that I mentioned, and I will make a great effort to do so," Macron said.