Bassil Meets Italy FM, Urges Backing Lebanon in Choosing 'Strong, Legitimate' Leader
Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil held talks Friday with his visiting Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni and called on the world to support Lebanon to elect a “strong and legitimate” president.
“We tackled the current challenges that are facing our countries, especially the heavy influx of migrants and refugees and the proliferation of criminal and terrorist organization,” said Bassil after talks with Gentiloni at the foreign ministry.
“We also reiterated the Lebanese stance that calls for the safe return of Syrian refugees to their country,” Bassil added.
He also called on the international community to “back the will of the Lebanese people through respecting their endorsement of a strong and legitimate leadership that enjoys broad popular support, which would make Lebanon a strong and real partner in fighting terror and a model for democracy and human rights.”
The Italian minister for his part hoped a diplomatic solution will soon be found to the Syrian crisis, noting that “what Lebanon is proposing regarding the return of refugees to their country remains something difficult” in the foreseeable future.
Ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has finally decided to endorse FPM founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, 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.
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.
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.
