On his first official visit to Beirut, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will not have any surprises to offer to the Lebanese.
Paris was planning that the visit would coincide with the Lebanese government launching the long-awaited reforms. But since things did not happen this way. the two-day talks that Le Drian will hold with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti and Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai, would be an opportunity to convey a “direct” message that Paris “is unable to help Lebanon today is in the absence of quick and concrete reforms. ”
Official French sources said that Le Drian would be strict and would discuss “in detail” the awaited reforms, which were approved during the CEDRE conference, which was hosted by Paris two years ago.
According to the sources, the French minister will also convey a message of support and solidarity to the Lebanese people by providing humanitarian and other educational assistance to francophone schools.
Le Drian will not be meeting with representatives of the political forces, neither from the majority nor the opposition, but will hold talks at the embassy with representatives of civil society groups and visit the Amel Foundation in Beirut’s suburbs and a francophone school.
As for the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate, the sources noted that Paris acknowledged that the negotiations this time were somewhat “arduous” because of the US insistence on granting further authorities to the international troops. But they added that France would ensure that there would be no change in the mandate.
The sources stressed that France believes that the patriarch’s call for Lebanon’s neutrality was aimed at the dissociation from regional conflicts, which means respecting the country’s independence, sovereignty over all its lands, and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the South.
