The Delegation of the European Union together with the diplomatic missions of the EU Member States in Lebanon called on the Lebanese government to resume cabinet meetings, address the socio-economic crisis in the country and to ensure fair and transparent elections in 2022 in a statement issued Wednesday. (Credit: Yves Herman/Reuters)
BEIRUT— The Delegation of the European Union together with the diplomatic missions of the EU Member States in Lebanon called on the Lebanese government to resume cabinet meetings, address the socio-economic crisis in the country and to ensure fair and transparent elections in 2022 in a statement issued Wednesday.
Here’s what we know:
• After three months of government paralysis due to a dispute over the Beirut blast probe, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday that his cabinet is scheduled to meet next week to discuss the draft budget for the current year and other “urgent and important matters,” without identifying an exact date.
• The EU entities called on the government to conclude “an agreement with the IMF” to help the country out of its “macroeconomic and fiscal crises.” The statement called for reforms, saying that the Lebanese government needs to “take all the decisions and measures which need to be taken prior to such an agreement immediately.”
• The statement further urges the government and other decision-making bodies “to take all the necessary decisions and steps to enable the Supervisory Commission for Elections to carry out its mandate… and take all other decisions and steps in order to ensure an adequate process leading to fair and transparent elections to take place on time in 2022.”
• The EU once again voiced a call for “justice and accountability through a transparent and independent investigation into the causes of the Beirut Port blast and for the respect of the independence of the judiciary and the principle of division of powers by Lebanese decision makers.”
• The recent retirement of one of the Court of Cassation’s members has caused this body to lose the quorum required to hold meetings to rule on complaints against Bitar, whose investigation cannot continue until the court rules on the most recent one, presented on Dec. 3 by former Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos. He is subject to an arrest warrant in absentia after failing to appear before Bitar.