BeIRUT: A French Cabinet Minister criticized Lebanese leaders on Tuesday, warning them of the sanctions that will come from Paris who will target Lebanese officials who prevent the formation of new governments.
The statement by the Minister of Foreign Trade France Franck Riester came during a visit to the Port of Beirut, destroyed in a big explosion in August last year.
Reister said members of the political elite in Lebanon failed to respect their commitment which was declared to reform and be warned of the first wave of sanctions by France, Lebanese colonial rulers.
He did not say whether the steps would be charged only by France or maybe by the European Union too.
“France respects the promise, unlike the Lebanese authority that does not apply reform,” Riester told reporters, standing in the midst of the ruins at the port.
“Things cannot continue this way.” Lebanon will go through an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, making it worse with political deadlocks that leave small Middle Eastern countries without a fully functional government since August.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut twice since the port explosion, pressed Lebanese politicians to implement reforms to release international investments and billions of dollars worth loans.
Promising the promise of reform by the Lebanese political elite, which has been running the country since the end of the civil war of 15 years in 1990, has never been realized.
The ruling class, including some of the former warlords, has been blamed for several decades of corruption and the wrong manage that has brought Lebanon with bankruptcy.
The Government of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the Government of Hassan Diab resigned after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, the very explosive material used in fertilizers that had been stored was not properly in the port for years, exploded on August 4, killing 211 people.
It also injures more than 6,000 and damages the entire Beirut environment.
Riester then directed President Michel Aoun to French aid to Lebanon since the explosion, according to the President’s office.
After the meeting, Riester Tweeted was almost a year ago Lebanese political leaders promised before Macron “to form a government and reform their country to stem the collapse.” “Nothing is done,” he said.
“This blockage suicide.”