The Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the European External Action Service, Hélène Le Gal, stressed on Wednesday 26 April that the Lebanese leaders must unblock the political situation in the country as soon as possible.
Before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ms Le Gal highlighted the EU’s concerns about the blocking of Lebanese democratic institutions “one after another”. The government has been in office since May 2022, the Presidency has been vacant since the end of October 2022 and the municipal elections have just been postponed indefinitely.
“Lebanon cannot afford to face an economic crisis without an institutional framework”, the Managing Director warned, as the country faces an economic, monetary and banking system “collapse” and the “incumbent government is too weak to implement the agreement” reached with the IMF, she said.
“Despite multiple efforts by the EU and the international community and warnings, there seems to be no sense of urgency among the Lebanese elites”, Ms Le Gal lamented.
Saying that the EU must learn the lessons of continued political inaction and lack of accountability for the Beirut Port explosion, the Managing Director recalled that the EU has a framework for restrictive measures related to corruption, which “will be reassessed starting mid-June”. Unanimity of the Member States is required to extend it by one year and/or to add personalities to it.
Ahead of the 24 April EU Council, a diplomat had explained to EUROPE that Member States were not yet at the stage of concretization of the framework with names, that they were still considering other possible actions.
Ms Le Gal also recalled that the conference on Syria would be held on 14 and 15 June. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)