- The Lebanese Cabinet resigned after August 4, 2020.
- Political quarrels hindered the formation of the new cabinet needed to unlock international aid.
- French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Lebanon’s priority remains to form a government that can implement reforms.
French President Emmanuel Macron criticized a “failed” Lebanese political class when he convened an international donor conference, and blamed him for the country’s economic turmoil The first anniversary of the big bang That attack destroyed the port of Beirut and destroyed most of the capital.
The Lebanese cabinet resigned after the disaster on August 4, 2020 and has been acting as a caretaker ever since. The country’s currency collapse, job disappearance, and bank freezes are what lenders call one of the most serious financial crises in modern times. Second-rate.
Even as Lebanon is plunged into deeper turmoil, political quarrels have prevented the formation of the new cabinet needed to unlock international aid.
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“Lebanese leaders seem to be betting on a strategy of delay. I regret that. I think this is a historic and moral failure,” Macron said in his opening speech as the host of the UN-supported meeting on Wednesday. Aims to raise at least US$350 million.
“Lebanon’s political system will not have blank checks. Because since the beginning of the crisis, and before that, they have failed.”
France has led international efforts to get its former colonies out of crisis. After the explosion, Macron visited Beirut twice, offered emergency assistance and imposed a travel ban on some senior Lebanese officials. He also persuaded the EU to agree on a sanctions framework to be used.
The French president also stated that Lebanon’s top priority is still to form a government capable of implementing reforms. He pledged to provide Lebanon with another 100 million euros (118.5 million U.S. dollars) in emergency assistance and 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for the country.
Macron’s office stated that US President Joe Biden will join about 40 other world leaders in a conference co-sponsored by the United Nations.
The meeting after the bombing last year raised about 280 million U.S. dollars, and emergency assistance was kept away from politicians and was provided through non-governmental organizations and aid groups.
Read here | Beirut commemorates the first anniversary of the port explosion in anger and mourning
Macron’s office stated that the new assistance will be unconditional, but the approximately US$11 billion raised in 2018 is still locked in and depends on a series of reforms.
The World Bank calls Lebanon’s crisis one of the worst depressions in modern history. Since the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2019, the currency has depreciated by more than 90% against the U.S. dollar, and more than half of the population has fallen into poverty.
Qatar last month Say It will provide 70 tons of food to the Lebanese Armed Forces a month, and it also calls on all parties in Lebanon to form a new government “to achieve stability.”
