Listen To The Article
Jean-Yves Le Drian, French President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy, could announce the date of his next mission to Beirut on Saturday at the end of his current visit to Lebanon, which will enable him to carry on with his talks.
According to many political groups he had met, Le Drian did not come around to the French initiative concerning the candidacy of Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh. However, he did not put forth any other idea. Indeed, most of the time, he is content to listen to his guests to learn about possible ways to get out of the crisis.
A source close to the delegation accompanying him said that Le Drian is trying to reconcile the points of view of the various Lebanese parties. During the next round of his mission, he is expected to present ideas for a solution, although it will not be a formal initiative.
These ideas will be worked out with Macron. They will be designed in parallel with the five countries involved in the Paris meeting concerning Lebanon: France, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar.
Le Drian’s mission is not an easy one. According to some sources, the former head of the Quai d’Orsay came up against the Shiite duo’s refusal to abandon Sleiman Frangieh as the sole candidate for the Lebanese presidency, particularly during his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry.
Berry has once again asserted that there is no alternative to internal dialogue in order for the opposition parties to accept Frangieh.
His speech was seen as a clear message to Le Drian: “His mission cannot be successful if it is not based on internal dialogue around political and economic issues for the next stage, instead of on proposing a new candidate.”
According to the same information, the Shiite duo has put a new deal on the table that links upholding the Taif agreement, which ended the 1975–1990 civil war, to the election of Frangieh as head of state.
Any other choice would mean that the Amal-Hizbollah camp would demand revisiting the current political system. That would imply adopting a new political formula, to the detriment of Taif, which would grant major advantages to the Shiites in state administrations and important posts currently held by Christians.
