Macron Requests Additional Support for Lebanon, Wants Real Data

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron indicated his readiness to organize a new international support conference for Lebanon next month in cooperation with the United Nations, but he linked that to reforms and to know the real numbers of the Lebanese banking system.

"We need to focus over the next six months on the state of emergency and continue to mobilize the international community," Macron said during a dialogue with representatives of civil society and the United Nations aboard the "Tonner" helicopter carrier at Beirut Port.

He added, "I am ready to organize an international support conference with the United Nations again, perhaps between mid and late October," indicating his readiness to host the conference in Paris.

He pointed out that the goal is that "we can again request support from various countries to finance" aid and ship it immediately to Beirut.

On the ninth of August, days after the Beirut port bombing occurred, France sponsored an international conference in support of Lebanon in which the participants pledged to provide more than 250 million euros to help the Lebanese, provided that it is provided under the auspices of the United Nations and directly to the Lebanese people, without passing through the state institutions accused of corruption.

In bold statements, French President Emmanuel Macron, who is currently visiting Beirut, said that he does not tolerate the political class in Lebanon.

He added, "I do not tolerate the political class in Lebanon ... Parliament was elected by the people, and I cannot say that the entire political class must be changed ... There are elections and the people must decide and produce a new political reality if they want to."

Commenting on Mustafa Adib's choice to form the new Lebanese government, Macron said: "I do not know the man who was assigned to form the government after consultations, and we hope that he has the required competence. The government must be formed brilliant, electricity reform, anti-corruption and reform of government contracting standards and the banking system."

He explained that he wanted to know "the real numbers regarding the Lebanese banking system," calling for an "audit of the accounts."

Macron's long program of work Tuesday is full of important political meetings, most notably with President Michel Aoun and representatives of the main political forces.

Macron, who is visiting Beirut for the second time in less than a month, warns that his efforts are the "last chance" to salvage the crumbling political and economic system in Lebanon, and the main political forces have pre-empted his arrival by agreeing to assign Mustafa Adib to form a new government.