Berri Meets Greek FM, Says Debt Restructuring is Best Solution

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday held talks with visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and discussed with him the bilateral ties, the situation in Lebanon and the region, and means to boost cooperation between the two countries.

Separately, Berri told MPs during the weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting that restructuring Lebanon’s debt is the “best solution” for the country’s dire financial and economic crisis.

“The electricity file should be tackled next to lay out a complete and comprehensive solution for it, seeing as half of the public debt and the annual deficit come from this file,” the Speaker added.

“The situation in Lebanon, especially at the financial and economic levels, cannot withstand an agitation of political bickering,” Berri warned, urging “the unification of all efforts in order to cooperate for the sake of the national interest and the historic responsibility.”

Berri also stressed that it is unacceptable to oblige citizens to pay the price for the financial, economic and banking crisis through “humiliating them and subjecting them to an organized deduction of their deposits and lifelong savings and through the uncontrolled hike of the prices of commodities and essential goods.”