US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron hold a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Dec. 1, 2022. (Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP)
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron urged Lebanon to elect a new president, during a meeting between the two leaders on Thursday in Washington.
Lebanon's Parliament still has not managed to appoint a successor to Michel Aoun, whose presidential term ended on Oct. 31.
"France and the United States are ... determined to sustain joint efforts to urge Lebanon’s leaders to elect a president and advance critical reforms," the White House said in a statement released Thursday.
These past weeks, Macron has been intensifying his contacts with other influential countries on the Lebanese scene, including the US and Saudi Arabia, to ensure that Lebanon has a new head of state. He had raised the issue twice in November with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
During a visit to Lebanon earlier this week, a US Congressional delegation insisted on the election of a president and reiterated "the attention of the United States to Lebanon, regardless of the circumstances."
Successive electoral sessions by Parliament have so far failed to reach a conclusion due to the lack of political agreement between the different parties, as is customary. Meanwhile, the country continues its socio-economic collapse that began in 2019.