Mikati attends a news conference at the opening session of the Syrian Donors Conference in Kuwait City in January 2014. (Credit: Stephanie McGehee/Reuters)
BEIRUT — France urged Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati Friday to "form without delay" a government that would work on the recovery of a country plunged in an unprecedented crisis, according to a statement by the French Foreign Ministry.
Here’s what we know:
• "It is up to the Prime Minister-designate to form without delay a government that is able to implement the emergency measures and structural reforms necessary for the recovery of the country, as negotiated last April with the International Monetary Fund," said the French Foreign Ministry in its statement.
• The ministry added that forming the new government is “the responsibility of all Lebanese political forces represented in parliament. Given the continued deterioration of the living conditions of the Lebanese, it is up to their representatives to finally act without further delay in the general interest of the country.”
• Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a 66-year-old billionaire, was appointed Thursday to form a new government, more than a month after the May 15 parliamentary elections.
• But the formation of a government could take weeks, even months, experts say, despite the economic and social urgency in a country that is sinking into a deep compounded crisis. Mikati was tasked with forming a government last summer after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s months-long efforts to do so were repeatedly met with failure.