by CGTN with input from AFP – Reuters —French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday Lebanese political leaders had agreed to form a government of experts in the next two weeks and that he expected the government to start delivering on a roadmap of reforms within six to eight weeks. “There is no blank check,” Macron told a news conference in the Lebanese capital. If reforms, including an audit of the central bank, were not being passed within that deadline, international aid would be withheld, he added. Macron was in Beirut for a second time since an August 4 explosion which killed more than 180 people, laid waste to entire city districts and fuelled popular rage against the country’s political elite. He attended muted celebrations marking the centenary of Greater Lebanon, shortly after political leaders settled on a new prime minister, Mustapha Adib, to form a cabinet and lead the country out of political turmoil and an economic crisis that was already crippling the country before the portside blast. “What all political parties without exception have committed to this evening right here, is that the formation of this government will not take more than 15 days,” he said.

Macron set himself an ambitious goal for his return visit: to push for deep change, but without being seen as meddling in the former French mandate. “This is the last chance for the Lebanese system,” he warned earlier. “It’s a risky bet I’m making, I am aware of it… I am putting the only thing I have on the table: my political capital,” he told news website Politico. Macron spoke to the press after meeting top Lebanese politicians, while clashes erupted in central Beirut between security forces and protesters rejecting the new prime minister. One held a poster aloft urging Macron: “Do not cooperate with the corrupt and criminal.” The French leader arrived Monday, just hours after Adib, a little-known 48-year-old academic and former ambassador to Germany, was designated to form a government. (With input from AFP, Reuters)

By Nadia Al Faour — thenational.ae — Lebanese officials named a little-known diplomat as the country’s new prime minister as French President French Emmanuel Macron travelled to Beirut on Monday. Mustapha Adib, 48, has been given the task of dragging Lebanon back from the cliff face and persuading Mr Macron to provide much-needed financial support to the bankrupt country. The name featured prominently in Google searches over the past 48 hours, with even seasoned political watchers rushing to familiarise themselves with the new leader. Many of those supported Mr Adib had not heard of him until hours before the parliamentary session where he secured 90 votes, easily beating his nearest rival, Nawaf Salam. The idea of a no-name leader being entrusted with saving the crisis-ridden country did not inspire confidence among many Lebanese. They have been calling for an overhaul of a political class widely blamed for crises including the August 4 port blast that ravaged half of Beirut.

I don’t believe in anyone any more,” said Rony Abdel Malak, 33. “The government will do whatever Hezbollah wants it to do. This new guy will start with good intentions then after a few weeks he’ll fall under the influence of the corrupt. “This is a never-ending cycle in Lebanon and it won’t stop until you remove the religious and the fanatics from it.” Until yesterday, Mr Adib served as Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany and previously worked as an aide to a former prime minister, the billionaire Najib Miqati, who is from the same city in North Lebanon, Tripoli. Mr Adib, who was a political appointment as ambassador, owes his career to powerful patrons. Analysts say he would be reluctant to turn on them now even as Lebanon lurches from one catastrophe to the next.

Relation between the Khazen’s and the French

By ANTONIO MUNIOZ — Arabnews — PARIS: The symbolism could not have been stronger. On Sept. 1, 1920, French Gen. Henri Gouraud, representing the French mandate authority, proclaimed the State of Greater Lebanon from the Pine Residence in Beirut. On that day, Lebanon set out on its path toward independence, which it gained — for better or worse — 23 years later, on Nov. 22, 1943. One hundred years later, as French President Emmanuel Macron inspected the devastation caused by the massive explosion of Aug. 4, 2020 at the Beirut port, Lebanese people, expressing their anger at the incompetence of the Lebanon’s authorities, called for the country to be placed under “French mandate for the coming 10 years.” The French leader promised to return on Sept. 1 for the centenary celebrations of the creation of Lebanon. Meanwhile, Paris stepped up its efforts to support those affected by the explosion, and to urge Lebanese leaders to begin much-needed reforms to deal with the serious economic and financial crisis facing the country.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s July 8 cri de coeur aimed at the Lebanese authorities — “Help us help you, dammit!” — reflected growing concern in Paris over the very future of Lebanon. Relations between the two countries go back much further than the historic date in 1920, which only consecrated ties that were several hundreds of years old. One can trace the beginning of France’s links with Lebanon to St. Louis, the 13th-century monarch who recognized the Maronite nation in Mount Lebanon and was committed to ensuring its protection. However, it was the capitulation agreements between the Ottoman empire under Suleiman the Magnificent and the European powers, including France, ruled by Francois I, that paved the way for France in the 14th century to forge deeper relations with the Lebanese, with the aim of defending the empire’s minorities, especially Christians. In 1860, after the massacres of Christians in Mount Lebanon, the French, under Napoleon III, intervened militarily to restore order. This allowed the creation, on a political level, of the Mutasarrifate, an administrative authority that ushered in a period of stability until the First World War.

by reuters.com — BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron began his trip to Beirut on Monday by visiting Fairouz, one of the Arab world’s most famous singers whose haunting voice has been Lebanon’s soundtrack from its glamorous heyday through its conflicts and latest trauma. Anger at Lebanon’s political elite over an economic meltdown and this month’s devastating port blast was evident as Macron arrived at the home of the 85-year old artist, feted as a national treasure and symbol of peace, transcending factional and sectarian divides in Lebanon and beyond. Protesters were seen in live television broadcasts gathered outside, carrying placards reading “No cabinet by, or with, the murderers” and “Don’t be on the wrong side of history!”.

Before stepping inside, Macron acknowledged them with a slight bow. Some were screaming “Adib No”, referring to new prime minister Mustapha Adib who was named by Lebanese leaders on Monday under French pressure. Macron is visiting Beirut for the second time in less than a month to press for a new government made up of experts untainted by corruption and capable of rooting out graft, waste and negligence as well as rebuilding after the Aug. 4 explosion that wrecked swathes of Beirut, killing 190 people. Songs by Fairouz dedicated to Beirut played on loop by local broadcasters showing images of the blast and its aftermath.

by middleeasteye.net — Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib is poised to be designated prime minister on Monday after winning the support of major parties to form a new government facing a crippling financial crisis and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion. The nomination followed contacts by French President Emmanuel Macron over the last 48 hours to press Lebanese leaders to agree on a candidate, two senior Lebanese officials said, just ahead of a visit by the French leader to Lebanon this week. Macron has taken centre stage in international efforts to get Lebanon’s fractious leaders to start addressing a financial crisis that had devastated the economy even before the August 4 port blast that killed some 190 people. A French presidency source said Macron had been in contact by phone with the main protagonists on Saturday and Sunday. “The president is informed of the negotiations underway in Beirut,” the source said. Macron arrives in Beirut late on Monday.

Last week, contacts among Lebanese leaders to agree a new prime minister were deadlocked. One of the two senior Lebanese sources said Macron’s role had been essential in clinching the agreement on Adib. The previous government led by Hassan Diab quit on August 10 over the port blast in which a massive amount of unsafely stored chemicals detonated. Adib has a doctorate in law and political science and previously served as an adviser to Najib Mikati, a former prime minister. He has served as ambassador to Germany since 2013. The post of prime minister must go to a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian system. Adib’s candidacy won vital political backing on Sunday from former prime ministers including Saad al-Hariri, who heads the biggest Sunni party, the Future Movement.

by thearabweekly — PARIS- Lebanese novelist Dima Abdallah won the prestigious French prize “Envoyé par La Poste” for the year 2020 for her first novel “Mauvaises Herbes” (Bad Weeds), which narrates events of the Lebanese civil war through the eyes of a young girl and her father. Abdallah, 43, an archaeologist who specialises in late antiquity, will receive the award and a 2,500 euro prize on September 8 at La Poste’s Museum. Created by the French public postal service company La Poste, the “Envoyé par La Poste” prize rewards a manuscript (the first novel or story) sent by mail, without any specific recommendation, that is deemed by the publisher and their reading committee to have the most promise and merit publication.

by reuters — BEIRUT: The Lebanese presidency will convene consultations with parliamentary blocs on Monday to designate a new prime minister, the presidency said, after the government quit earlier this month following the catastrophic explosion at Beirut port. Lebanon’s fractious sectarian parties have so far failed to agree on who should lead the next government. […]

by reuters — PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Beirut next week to pressure local politicians into pressing ahead with the creation of a government that can implement urgent reforms, a French presidential official said on Friday. “The president has said it he will not give up. He made a commitment to do […]

 Canada’s foreign minister pushed for Lebanon’s president to pursue economic and political reforms as he expressed Canadian solidarity with the embattled Lebanese people. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met face to face Thursday with Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut, before taking a close-up look at the burned-out hulk of the city’s decimated port. “My […]

by reuters — BEIRUT ― Lebanese banks that cannot increase their capital by 20 per cent by the end of February 2021 will have to get out of the market, Central Bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters yesterday. Those leaving would do so by giving their shares to the central bank, Salameh added. He said he could not speculate how many of Lebanon’s nearly 40 banks would exit the market. “We hope all the banks will meet the criteria,” he said in a phone interview. “But after February, those who do not will have to get out of the market…The deposits will be preserved because the bank will not be put into a bankruptcy situation.” The central bank’s foreign currency reserves stand at US$19.5 billion (RM81 billion) and obligatory reserve at US$17.5 billion, he said. Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have frozen savers out of their dollar deposits and largely blocked transfers abroad since late last year as the country sank into a financial meltdown on a scale it has never seen.

The central bank wants domestic banks to boost liquidity at their correspondent banks abroad, with which they do not have sufficient funds, Salameh said. The state, one of the world’s most indebted, defaulted on its foreign currency debt in March, citing critically low reserves. Inflation and poverty have soared as the crisis wiped out the value of the local currency on the informal market. With the country running out of dollars, the central bank has kept providing foreign currency for fuel, wheat and medicine imports at an official peg. Salameh told Reuters he could not say how long the central bank could keep subsidising essential imports which is “depleting reserves”. He has been cited as saying the bank cannot use its obligatory reserve to finance trade once it reaches the threshold. “We are not about to float the currency and therefore for the time being we are living with these two exchange rates,” he said, adding that this decision also lies with the government.