French President Emmanuel Macron will not conduct his third visit to Lebanon unless the necessary conditions for its success are met, a well-informed Lebanese political source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
This requires the main parties to immediately agree on the formation of a strong government and remove all obstacles hindering its birth.
The source noted that Macron was aware that the problem was internal, as expressed by Speaker Nabih Berri, who said earlier this week that the obstacle to the cabinet’s formation was not external, indirectly holding President Michel Aoun responsible for the delay by demanding a blocking third.
“We are keen to clarify to the public opinion that the obstacle to forming a government is not external but internal,” Berri said in a statement on Monday.
The political source pointed out that Macron was still counting on the internal parties to resolve the nodes, which requires the resumption of consultations between Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
The French president is currently exerting pressure in to guarantee that his visit to Beirut would come in parallel with the announcement of the new government lineup, the source added.
Macron not only contacted Aoun, but also communicated with Hariri, according to the source. The premier-designate then talked to Berri, who decided to break his silence over the matter. Hezbollah, for its part, decided to enter the line of consultations, hoping that it could revive the contacts between Aoun and Hariri.
In this context, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah contacted the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), former Minister and MP Gebran Bassil, to push the talks forward.
The source asked whether Nasrallah’s move was based on regional developments, which are not yet visible, that have led the party to change its position and decide to pressure Bassil.
While the political source could not ascertain that a change in the international and regional stances was behind Hezbollah’s initiative, he stressed, on the other hand, that Macron would not make a third visit to Beirut unless he sees concrete signs of improvement in the political climate.
