Al-Rahi Urges Adib to Form 'Small Emergency Government'
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called on Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib to form a “small emergency government.”
Addressing Adib by his title, al-Rahi added that the new government should be “competent and strong” and should inspire “seriousness, ability and hope.”
“It should trust itself and the people should have confidence in it, seeing as this critical period requires a government from the people and for the people, not from politicians and for politicians,” the patriarch urged in his Sunday Mass sermon.
“The critical period requires a government that negotiates responsibly with the International Monetary Fund, launches a real reform endeavor and dissociates Lebanon from conflicts,” al-Rahi went on to say.
The patriarch also said that the new government should “return people’s bank deposits to them, rescue the national currency, attract foreign aid, rebuild the capital and the port, halt the emigration of families and youths, speed up the reconstruction of houses so that people can live in them before winter, and secure the necessary aid for universities and schools so that they can resume teaching.”
Turning to the government’s policy statement, al-Rahi hoped his call for Lebanon’s neutrality towards regional conflicts will be incorporated in it, noting that Lebanese governments from 1943 until 1980 had endorsed neutrality and nonalignment in their policies.
Source: Naharnet
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