The weekly Cabinet meeting convened at Baabda Palace on Thursday to discuss 30 items on the agenda, mainly an “emergency plan” to tackle pressing issues, as the debt-ridden country seeks assistance to rescue its moribund economy.

France reportedly plans to “increase its presence” in crisis-hit Lebanon to help it overcome its economic crisis, as the debt-ridden country seeks assistance to rescue its moribund economy, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri said recent remarks by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil prove that he is the country’s “shadow president.”

“If he is the one who decides when I would return (to power), this proves what I said about him being the shadow president,” Hariri told reporters when asked about Bassil’s remarks.

Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm on Wednesday asked State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat to expand investigations into all “suspicious” transfers to foreign banks.

The National News Agency said Najm called on Oueidat to request that the central bank’s Special Investigation Commission provide him with “all the information it has about all the money transfers from Lebanon to foreign banks and not to limit the information to the money that was transferred to Switzerland.”

President Michel Aoun will not sign the 2020 state budget because it “does not include a final account for the year 2018,” his adviser Salim Jreissati said on Wednesday.

“This is considered a violation and the President rejects it,” Jreissati told MTV.

The Association of Banks in Lebanon on Wednesday called for negotiations with the holders of Lebanon’s Eurobonds regarding the March 9 payment.

“We stressed to Mr. Premier ABL’s stance that if the government is inclined to reschedule the debt, this rescheduling must happen in an organized manner, which means through negotiations with bond holders, especially that the foreign investment funds have so far showed readiness to negotiate on this basis,” ABL chief Salim Sfeir said after meeting PM Hassan Diab along with a delegation from the Association.

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.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi expressed readiness to authorize accountability mechanisms for any corrupt mayors or employees in Lebanon’s municipalities, LBCI TV said on Wednesday.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias led a delegation to Beirut on Wednesday to hold talks with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Hassan Diab, and Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Lebanon plans to invite eight firms to compete on providing financial advice on whether it should pay or default on its $1.2 billion Eurobond debt, which matures next month, media reports said on Wednesday.