by dailystar.com.lb — Hussein Dakroub — BEIRUT: French President Emmanuel Macron is outraged by Lebanese political leaders’ failure to act quickly to form a new government to deliver reforms and has therefore decided to wash his hands of the Lebanese crisis for now, a Western diplomatic source said Sunday. However, despite Macron’s frustration with rival Lebanese politicians’ lack of seriousness in dealing with the country’s worst economic and financial crunch in decades, the French initiative to rescue Lebanon from a series of multiple crises is still alive, the source told The Daily Star. “President Macron has washed his hands of the Lebanese crisis, in a move reflecting his disappointment with Lebanon’s political leaders’ continued obstruction of the formation of a new government to enact urgent reforms. He has relegated to the French cell of former French ambassadors who served in Lebanon the job of following up on the implementation of the French initiative to save Lebanon,” the source said.

Macron’s fiery stance came after President Michel Aoun this week suddenly postponed until Oct. 22 binding parliamentary consultations to designate a new prime minister that were set to take place Thursday, apparently due to a lack of strong Christian support for former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s nomination. Hariri had appeared assured of gaining the support of a parliamentary majority sufficient to designate him to form a new government despite opposition from the two main Christian blocs — the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces. Hariri, backed by France and regional powers, had emerged as the favorite candidate to form the next government in the absence of a serious Sunni rival. Aoun cited what he called “difficulties that need to be resolved” for his decision to postpone the parliamentary consultations. But Future Movement MP Assem Araji had told The Daily Star that Aoun acted at FPM leader MP Gebran Bassil’s behest to postpone the parliamentary consultations in a bid to block Hariri’s designation for the premiership. A source at Baabda Palace Sunday said the binding consultations would go ahead as scheduled Thursday. “So far, the consultations will take place as planned on Thursday. Barring last-minute hitches, Prime Minister Hariri is expected to be designated as prime minister Thursday,” the source told The Daily Star.

The source said he was unaware of any direct or indirect contacts between Hariri and Bassil in a last-ditch attempt to facilitate the formation of a new government after the FPM leader had declared that his parliamentary bloc would not nominate Hariri for the premiership. In what appeared to be the first reaction to Aoun’s postponement of the parliamentary consultations to designate a new prime minister, France Saturday renewed its calls for Lebanese leaders to form a government, stressing it was time to “choose advancement rather than paralysis and chaos.” The French Foreign Ministry reportedly said in a statement that the formation of a government “capable of implementing necessary reforms remains postponed, despite promises that all Lebanese political forces have reaffirmed.” France held Lebanon’s political authorities responsible for “the prolonged obstruction that prevents any response to the demands expressed by the Lebanese,” adding that Paris is “ready to assist Lebanon in reforms that would mobilize the international community.”

In a press conference in Paris on Sept. 27, a day after Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib stepped down after failing to form a small Cabinet of nonpartisan experts, Macron blasted Lebanon’s political leaders, accusing them of “collective betrayal” over their failure to form a new government, but he gave them another four to six weeks to implement the road map proposed by France to avert the country’s total collapse. Despite Bassil’s escalation against Hariri’s nomination for the country’s top Sunni post, a senior Future source said the ex-premier would not bow out of the premiership race. “Prime Minister Hariri will not withdraw from the premiership race. He is resolved to form a small Cabinet of non-partisan specialists to implement the reform program agreed upon by Lebanese political leaders during their meeting with President Macron at the Pine Palace [Sept. 1],” the Future source told The Daily Star Sunday, referring to the French ambassador’s official residence in Beirut. Asked about the prospects of contacts between Hariri and Bassil, whose ties with the head of the Future Movement have been strained since last year, in a bid to break the ice between them, the source said: “Nothing will change from now until the date of the binding parliamentary consultations.”

Does the Future Movement fear another postponement of Thursday’s parliamentary consultations to pick a new prime minister, the source said: “We will not comment. We are waiting for Thursday’s consultations.” In a toughening of its position against Hariri, the FPM renewed its rejection to nominate the former prime minister for the premiership, while reiterating its support for the French initiative. “The [FPM’s] Political Council affirms its adherence to the French initiative and the formation of a mission government, whose head and ministers are specialists, a Cabinet with a reformist program, whose head and ministers are productive and effective,” said a statement issued after an electronic meeting of the FPM’s Political Council chaired by Bassil Saturday. “The Political Council unanimously agreed not to nominate Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the premiership because he is not a specialist, while stressing the respect for his person and representative and political position,” the statement said.

The statement rejected accusations that the FPM and Bassil were obstructing the government formation, saying such accusations were part of a campaign targeting the FPM and its leader. The statement said that postponing parliamentary consultations would not change the FPM’s stance on Hariri’s nomination. The delayed consultations were meant to poll parliamentary blocs on their choice for a new prime minister, after Adib stepped down last month in a move that has thrown the country into uncertainty and cast gloom on the French initiative to rescue Lebanon. Lebanon has been left without a fully functioning government since caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab submitted his Cabinet’s resignation on Aug. 10 over the Beirut Port explosion.

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai Sunday slammed Lebanon’s political leaders for delaying the government formation and accused them of plunging the country into a state of “paralysis.” Rai called out the country’s leaders during his sermon asking, “Who has the luxury of time to delay parliamentary consultations and the formation of a government?” He added that the leaders should keep their hands off the government, questioning their actions with regards to the Constitution, the Taif Accord and the lives of the Lebanese people. “You are responsible for throwing the country into a state of complete paralysis,” Rai said, addressing politicians. “The responsibility is collective.” The patriarch further criticized the ruling class by saying they are deliberately ignoring the demands of the people, who have lost confidence in them and the Lebanese state.