16/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the weekend, France took the initiative to hold a meeting near Paris bringing all the Lebanese political parties together. This included the Hezbollah resistance movement with which the EU has trouble dialoguing due to pressure from Israel to add it to the “terrorist list”. The French initiative aimed to encourage the various protagonists in this country - that has long suffered political instability not only internally but also on its eastern and southern borders - to take up the road to dialogue and agreement once again. The “purely French” initiative, which means it comes outside EU bodies, as Lebanon's ambassador to the EU, Fawzi Fawwaz, explained, is a significant “political signal” for the other member states. It points to the need to “help the Lebanese” without differentiating between them. Mr Fawwaz, the ambassador to Brussels and senior member of the Arab diplomatic corps in Brussels, who is to leave his post on Monday after many years of service, told EUROPE of his “hope” that, under the impetus given by France, the EU would aid all the Lebanese in favour of peace and democracy and allow this country to affront the forthcoming elections serenely. (fb)