Emmanuel Macron has appointed his former foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, as “personal envoy for Lebanon”. His goal ? “Facilitate” a “consensual and effective” solution to the serious political impasse the country is going through, the Elysee Palace said on Wednesday. Jean-Yves Le Drian, presented as a man with solid experience in “crisis management”, “plans to go to Lebanon very quickly”, added an adviser to the head of state. The President asked him “to report to him promptly on the situation”.
Former Minister of Defense of François Hollande (2012-2017), before joining Emmanuel Macron to become his confidant at the Quai d’Orsay (2017-2022), Le Drian, 75, had gained ground with the political world since the last presidential election.
“The situation remains difficult in Lebanon”, with the need to “get out of both the political crisis and the economic and financial difficulties”, estimated the adviser to the president, recalling that Emmanuel Macron was personally “very committed” on this file.
According to Paris, there is an urgent need to “bring together a form of consensus” to allow the election of a president of Lebanon, a country without a head of state for more than seven months due to political blockages in this system with complex balances. And also accelerate the implementation of “necessary reforms”.
The latter withdrew his candidacy to support Jihad Azour, a senior official of the International Monetary Fund, who is however not yet a formal candidate. “Since the Parliament is convened, this deadline must be useful”, “we must not waste any opportunity”, pleaded the Elysee, noting the emergence of two candidates, Sleiman Frangié and Jihad Azour.
“Our line remains the same”, namely that the way out of the crisis “requires more than an agreement on a name”, added the French presidency, which has maintained for months that it has no candidate for the succession of Michel Aoun, whose presidential term expired on October 31.