Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's special envoy to Lebanon, in Erbil in July 2020. (Credit: archive Safin Hamed/AFP)
BEIRUT — Jean-Yves Le Drian, French President Emmanuel Macron's new "special envoy" for Lebanon, will visit Beirut Wednesday, a diplomatic source said Sunday, where he will hold talks with political leaders in the wake of Parliament's recent failure to elect a president.
"The June 21 visit has been confirmed," this source told AFP, while Lebanese media had mentioned a trip "next week." Another source close to the matter also mentioned a Wednesday visit. Neither of the sources suggested how long the special envoy would stay on site, or with whom he might meet.
Drian, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, held talks with Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna Friday, to share the details of her discussions with Lebanese officials in recent months. That day the French President and Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman discussed Lebanon's political crisis at the Elysée Palace. The two leaders called for "a rapid end to the political vacuum" in Lebanon. The eight-month presidential vacancy "remains the major obstacle to resolving Lebanon's severe socio-economic crisis," the French president asserted in a statement issued after the meeting.
Political stalemate
Macron appointed Drian to this post on June 7 in order to "facilitate a consensual and effective solution" to the country's political impasse. At the time, Elysée acknowledged that "the situation remains difficult in Lebanon," which needs to "overcome both the political crisis and the economic and financial difficulties."
Lebanon's Parliament failed for the twelfth time to elect a president last week, with the tug-of-war between the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah and its opponents exacerbating the risk of a prolonged vacancy in the country's executive.
Lebanon is also deep in an economic slump. It reached an agreement in principle with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April 2022, but must first undertake crucial reforms to unlock aid to revive the country's economy, where over 80 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.
AFP originally published this story in French.
