On Monday 13 November, the High Representative of the EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and several foreign affairs ministers, called for the return of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, to his country.
Hariri tendered his resignation from Saudi Arabia, where he is currently staying. Although the outgoing Prime Minister states that he has full freedom of movement, doubts persist.
“The EU urges the political forces to concentrate on Lebanon and what they can do for their citizens, upon the Prime Minister to return to the country and the government of unity to focus on domestic results”, Mogherini said in French (our translation), calling on the political parties to work together and avoid escalating tensions. She said that she expected there to be “no external interference” and that it is “vital that regional tensions are not imported into Lebanon”. The High Representative also announced that she was to meet the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Gebran Bassil, in Brussels this Tuesday morning.
Other heads of diplomacy also expressed their concerns. “We are worried about the situation in Lebanon (…). We are worried about its stability and its integrity, we are concerned about non-interference and respect for the Lebanese Constitution”, said the French minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, upon his arrival at the Council. “At the moment, Hariri says that he is free, we have no reason to disbelieve this”, he added, warning that in order to have a political solution in Lebanon, all senior political figures must obviously have freedom of movement and non-interference must be a basic principle.
The German minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said that Hariri's resignation “could cause destabilisation”. “We have a great many concerns (…) and so we hope that we will be able to find a rapid solution, that the Prime Minister will return and that Lebanon may maintain its stability”, he added. “Everybody wants to see a sovereign and independent Lebanon”, said British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.
“One thing we don't need is a crisis in Lebanon”, said the Luxembourg minister, Jean Asselborn, adding that if Hariri has been taken hostage, this would be “unwelcome”. “The Saudi authorities are very well aware of the risk of such a manoeuvre. I think that we in Europe must launch an appeal for the Prime Minister to be able to return to his country very very soon”, he added. “There are some doubts and no certainties”, Belgium's Didier Reynders concisely summed up Hariri's situation. “I do not mean to say whether or not there is a problem, I am just looking for more information about the Prime Minister”, he concluded.
In an interview broadcast on 12 November, Hariri announced that he would return to Lebanon in the “very near future”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)