Geagea Opposes Baabda Talks Statement, Urges Govt. to End Waste of Funds

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday attended President Michel Aoun's Baabda talks with parliamentary leaders but stressed that the LF “remains at the heart of the opposition.”

“Everyone knows that we are at the heart of the opposition and against the policies of the new presidential tenure, and our stances are known. I'm here like all the ministers and MPs who attended the meeting and we voiced our preliminary remarks on the economic plan,” Geagea told reporters after the meeting.

“We voiced a lot of reservations over the meeting, both about form and content, and also about the reform paper... One year ago we had more reserves at the central bank and money at the banks, and all things were suddenly lost,” the LF leader added.

“We would like to see the government succeeding, but so far we have not witnessed any major measure... If work in this country remains the same, we will not move forward,” Geagea warned.

He noted that several steps should be taken before his party would accept such a plan, citing “the 5,300 illegal employees, the illegal border crossings and the issues of customs and electricity.”

“The whole universe has talked about the issue of electricity, which is very costly, but no one is acting, due to the presence of a group that does not want change,” Geagea lamented.

“Our main answer is that we will not agree to this plan, nor to any plan, before the government proves that it is serious by putting an end to all the sources of the waste of public funds in state administrations,” the LF leader emphasized.

He added: “My presence here is the biggest proof that I'm not obstructing the government, but in order not to reach a dead end, the government must take and implement actual steps. We tell citizens that the government must start working immediately and we don't lack anti-corruption laws. We should not wait for help from abroad, what's important is to count on ourselves and the only solution is early parliamentary elections.”

Turning to the political situation in light of the Baabda meeting, Geagea noted that every party in the opposition “has its own style” in opposing the government's policies, noting that the parties are not a unified opposition front.

Geagea had officially voiced the LF's rejection of the meeting's closing statement prior to speaking to reporters.