Brussels, 21/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner welcome the results of the Lebanese general elections (which took place on four consecutive Sundays and which were won by Saadi Hariri, the son of the former assassinated prime minister, Rafik Hariri). According to the Head of the EU observers, Ignacio Salafranca MEP (EPP-ED, Spain), the elections were well organised and carried out effectively. Ferrero-Waldner affirmed in a press release that the EU priority had to be, “to support the political and economic reforms that the Lebanese people have been calling for. She announced that she would be proposing to the Council, a reform package of EUR 10 million to respond to the “immediate needs of Lebanon after the elections”. The Commission believes that the best way to help Lebanon in the future is through the EU's neighbourhood policy. She said that she was ready to work there “as soon as the new government is prepared to start consultations with us on the elaboration of an Action Plan”.
CFSP High Representative Javier Solana said in a press statement that he was eagerly awaiting the final report from the EU observation mission and underlined that the holding of free and fair elections was an essential step to re-establishing independence, sovereignty and democracy in Lebanon as laid down in Resolution 1559 of the Security Council
Spanish Socialist Carlos Carnero, who led to the European Parliament delegation to these elections which occurred over four consecutive Sundays, (he is part of the wider EU observers' delegation), said that following the withdrawal of Syrian troops, the Lebanese have “seized the opportunity to have free elections, although it should be noted that they were hampered by the existing electoral legislation”. He added that the first priority of the newly elected parliament had to be a drastic overhaul of electoral law. Carnero was concerned about the electoral system (seats are allocated to specific denominational groups), the absence of rules on funding election campaigns, the massive presence of party activist in voting booths or even inside them, as well as the total absence of women in the staff at polling stations. The delegation, which observed that the elections took part in an almost party atmosphere, is calling on the new Lebanese parliament to play an active role in the Euro-Mediterranean Assembly (which will hold an extraordinary session in November in Barcelona), for the tenth anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean process.