Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri hopes that a “comprehensive national meeting”, scheduled for June 25, to discuss political, economic and financial issues could help Lebanon fortify itself against political instability in the region and their possible repercussions on the country.
President Michel Aoun had called for a national meeting to be held at the Baabda presidential palace in order to ease tensions in Lebanon and fortify it against foreign tumult.
Berri is keen on holding the meeting to prevent Lebanon from being exposed to external instability as it suffers from internal divisions, a parliamentary source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.
He hopes that participants, regardless of their affiliations, would prioritize protecting Lebanon through a “political-security safety net,” it added.
The source added that Berri hopes that participants would agree on a unified approach for measuring the state’s financial losses.
Discrepancies between the government and the central bank on the estimated losses have complicated IMF talks, which began last month.
A parliamentary sub-committee has been seeking to help resolve this issue.
“Delaying an agreement between parliament and the government over the financial losses would prevent Lebanon from holding talks with the IMF,” the source said.
He uncovered that participants at the national meeting would discuss those discrepancies with an aim to find an agreement on the number of losses.
The dispute over the numbers will impose itself at the national meeting. There is no benefit to delaying negotiations with the fund, unless someone was seeking to use the dispute as an excuse to veer away from the IMF and weigh other options, including turning east towards China and Iran, as proposed by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, said the source, noting that Tehran was under American sanctions.
Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi said during Sunday mass that the Baabda national dialogue should meet needs, concerns and fears of the youths in the streets.
"To ensure the participation and success of this national gathering, we must emphasize the unity and neutrality of Lebanon, achieve expanded decentralization, preserve the authority of the legitimate state with all of its institutions, especially the security and military ones, recognize the state's authority exclusively over all Lebanese territory, adhere to international laws, fight corruption in all fields, and protect the independence of the judiciary and liberate it from any political or partisan interference,” he urged.