Lebanon's absent Caretaker Prime Minister: Mikati's decision to skip Brussels conference

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati tasked Caretaker Minister Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib with representing Lebanon at the upcoming Brussels conference on Syrian refugees. Bou Habib will carry a unified working paper on behalf of the government.

According to sources, Mikati had initially considered attending the conference himself but changed his mind after receiving feedback from European officials and lawmakers who expressed their opposition to the Lebanese government's handling of the investigation into Riad Salameh, the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon.

 

This article was originally published in, translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan.

The sources confirmed that Mikati always seeks to attend international invitations, even attending a royal wedding in Jordan and the inauguration ceremony of King Charles in Britain. 

The same sources added that the Syrian refugee conference in Brussels is an important occasion given the gravity of the issue for Lebanon. 

However, Mikati decided not to attend after realizing that he would face a barrage of questions about his government's performance regarding Salameh case and how the latter is fully protected despite the issuance of international arrest warrants against him.

The sources stressed that there is anger in Europe over this issue, which highlighted how the Lebanese judiciary has become a tool in the hands of politicians who protect Salameh.

It is also worth noting that Mikati would have faced questions about the reasons behind his government's dismissal of two French lawyers who volunteered to defend the Lebanese state's rights to the frozen assets of Riad Salameh in Europe. 

Among the questions was about the circulation of a false claim by one of the lawyers that he is Jewish, followed by his official accusation, as stated in the minutes of the Cabinet, of being a Zionist simply because of his affiliation with an association that fights all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism. 

This as sources told "Nidaa al-Watan" that there was a popular demonstration being prepared to confront Mikati personally with accusations of anti-Semitism, which is a crime punishable by European laws.