French Envoy Meets Hariri, Urges CEDRE Reforms 'within 2 Weeks'
Pierre Duquesne, the French inter-ministerial delegate for the Mediterranean who is in charge of following up on the implementation of the resolutions of the CEDRE conference, held talks Friday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Beirut.
“Within two weeks, we must notice a desire from the Lebanese to start the reforms recommended by the CEDRE conference,” Duquesne said after the Center House talks.
“The government should devise a specific program for implementing CEDRE's terms and the donors are especially focusing on the issue of reforms and confronting corruption,” the French envoy added.
A media report has said that Duquesne has given Lebanon a “two-month deadline” to launch a number of reforms.
“Duquesne told those he met yesterday that France and its allies are giving Lebanon a two-month deadline to implement what they recommend of preliminary reforms,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.
The said reforms “are based on privatization and the most dangerous steps concern the telecom sector,” the daily added.
“Should Lebanon fail to commit itself, the pledges of the donor and lending countries will be in peril,” al-Akhbar said.
According to information obtained by the newspaper, the French envoy called for “slashing the budget deficit by 1% from the GDP, devising a real and serious mechanism for combating tax evasion and corruption, seeking partnership contracts with the private sector and liberalizing the telecom sector.”
Source: Naharnet
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