by dailystar.com.lb — Hussein Dakroub — BEIRUT: Cancellation of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Beirut has shattered hopes for breaking the Cabinet formation deadlock, heightening fears of a prolonged standoff with all the dire consequences this entails for the country’s crumbling economy and internal stability, political sources said Thursday. The cancellation of Macron’s visit to Beirut, scheduled for next week, came after the French president tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, following a week when he has met with numerous European leaders. Macron took a test “as soon as the first symptoms appeared” and will self-isolate for seven days, the French presidency said in a brief statement. The 42-year-old president “will continue to work and take care of his activities at a distance,” the statement added. The French presidency confirmed that Macron’s trip to Lebanon is being canceled.

Macron was scheduled to visit Beirut on Dec. 22-23, marking his third trip to the crises-stricken country since the deadly Aug. 4 explosion that devastated Beirut Port, left half of the capital in ruins, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands, and caused millions of dollars in material damage. With the Cabinet formation process at a dead end days after Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun aired their differences over the formation with each blaming the other for the delay in an unprecedented “war of words,” popular and political attention was focused on Macron’s visit in the hope that it would achieve a breakthrough in the weekslong standoff. Even Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held out hope that Macron might be able to help in resolving the Cabinet crisis during his visit.

“The cancellation of Macron’s visit has dealt a blow to hopes pinned on the French leader to achieve a quick breakthrough in the Cabinet formation impasse and also to revive the stalled French initiative to rescue Lebanon,” a political source familiar with the matter told The Daily Star. “Macron had planned to press Lebanese political leaders to agree on the rapid formation of a new government to enact urgent reforms needed for unlocking promised foreign aid to Lebanon,” the source said. “Now all signs indicate that the formation of a new government has been put off until the New Year despite energetic internal moves aimed at facilitating the formation,” the source added.

According to the source, General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has been instrumental in trying to narrow differences between Aoun and Hariri over the shape and makeup of the new Cabinet. Ibrahim, known for his mediation role in previous political crises, has met behind-the-scenes separately with Aoun, Berri and Hariri for this purpose, the source said. The source added that Hariri’s meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai Wednesday was part of ongoing internal activity aimed at facilitating the Cabinet formation. A Baabda Palace source told The Daily Star Thursday that Rai would visit the presidential palace Friday to meet with Aoun to discuss the Cabinet formation crisis. Media reports said Rai was seeking to mediate with Aoun on his dispute with Hariri over the shape of the new Cabinet.

A Future Movement legislator also sounded downbeat on the Cabinet formation after the cancellation of Macron’s visit. “There was hope that President Macron’s visit will deal with those obstructing the government formation. Now this hope has faded and therefore, the Cabinet formation process has been put on hold probably until the New Year,” MP Mohammad Hajjar told The Daily Star. He warned that Lebanon was heading for a total economic collapse if a new government, made up of nonpartisan specialists as proposed by Hariri in line with the French initiative, was not formed quickly. Hajjar accused Aoun and his party, the Free Patriotic Movement headed by MP Gebran Bassil, of hindering the government formation. “[Aoun’s] presidency and his party are paralyzing the country and obstructing the formation of a new Cabinet. Therefore, if a new government is not formed quickly, the country will be sliding toward an economic, financial and social collapse that will threaten internal stability,” Hajjar said. After meeting Rai Wednesday, Hariri reaffirmed that the government he was striving to form would carry out reforms needed to halt the country’s economic collapse and rebuild Beirut following the port blast. He said he briefed Rai on the Cabinet lineup he had presented to Aoun last week which consisted of “nonpartisan specialists who have integrity and competence and are capable of carrying out the agreed-upon reforms.” He was referring to a string of key reforms contained in the French initiative to rescue Lebanon from multiple crises that was presented to Lebanon’s political leaders by Macro during his second visit to Lebanon on Sept. 1.

Macron was the first foreign leader to visit Beirut two days after the port blast. Following the blast, Macron led efforts to get Lebanese politicians to agree on a new government to enact reforms. But more than four months later Lebanese leaders have failed to deliver reforms. In addition to inspecting French troops serving with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, Macron was expected to meet again with Lebanon’s rival political leaders to press them to agree on the swift formation of a “mission” government to enact reforms. Rifts over the Cabinet formation first came out into the open last week when Hariri presented Aoun with his first draft Cabinet lineup since he was designated to form a new government on Oct. 22. The president responded with a counter-Cabinet proposal that was seen as a rejection of the premier-designate’s proposed Cabinet made up of 18 nonpartisan specialists. While Hariri was waiting for Aoun’s response to his proposed Cabinet lineup, the president was also waiting for the premier-designate’s reply to his own proposal.

In the waiting game, there was no word Thursday as to when the two leaders would meet again to try to iron out their differences over the names of potential ministers and the shape of a proposed 18-member Cabinet of nonpartisan experts desperately awaited by the Lebanese and the international community to deliver reforms. Implementation of long-overdue reforms is deemed essential to releasing billions of dollars in promised international aid to the cash-strapped country, which is facing an economic meltdown and a collapsing currency that has lost more than 80 percent of its value since last year, putting half of the 6 million population below the poverty line. Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since Aug. 10 when then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government resigned in the aftermath of the port explosion, although it stayed on in a caretaker capacity.