Bonne Briefs Mashnouq on Paris Preparations for Hosting Lebanon Meeting
French Ambassador to Lebanon Emmanuel Bonne briefed Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Wednesday on his country's preparations for hosting a meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported.
During the talks, Bonne stressed the importance of “electing a new president for the regularization of the political life and the work of state institutions in Lebanon in a manner that would allow the international community to help Lebanon address its economic crises and the Syrian refugee crisis,” NNA said.
The Bonne-Mashnouq meeting comes a day after a New York meeting between French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Tammam Salam.
Hollande told Salam during their meeting that Paris will maintain its contacts with all parties to press for the election of a president in Lebanon, media reports said.
The French president also noted that he will raise the issue of Lebanon's presidential vacuum during all of his upcoming meetings in New York, “especially with the Saudi and Iranian delegations,” Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said.
Hollande also revealed that France is preparing for a Paris meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon that will be held in November in order to “take the necessary measures to help Lebanon at all levels.”
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
Hariri's initiative followed a Paris meeting with Franjieh.
The ex-PM's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between the two parties.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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