French MP Thierry Mariani. (Credit: Screenshot Twitter/@ThierryMARIANI)
BEIRUT — Two French members of the European Parliament (EP), Thierry Mariani and François-Xavier Bellamy, traded spars online on Wednesday over a resolution vote that day that in part concerned the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
The text of the resolution adopted on Wednesday does not explicitly call for Syrian refugees to be kept in Lebanon, but it does mention that, currently, "the conditions required for a voluntary and dignified return of the refugees are not present."
The resolution also calls on Lebanon "to refrain from expulsions, from imposing discriminatory measures and from inciting hatred against Syrian refugees."
Both Mariani and Bellamy belong to groups that voted against the resolution and encourage the repatriation of the refugees.
Thierry Mariani, a far-right member of parliament for Marine Le Pen's National Rally, tweeted a video before the vote attacking the text of the resolution, which he said "supports keeping Syrian refugees in Lebanon.”
"Numerous delegations of elected officials and Lebanese representatives had come in recent weeks to ask EP members to intervene in support of repatriating the two million Syrian refugees in Lebanon.” The EP "betrayed its Lebanese interlocutors" in Wednesday’s vote, Mariani accused.
In response, François-Xavier Bellamy, who belongs to the center-right European People's Party (known as the Christian Democrats), tweeted that Wednesday’s resolution “does not, in fact, call for Syrian refugees to be allowed to return to their country, and this is a catastrophe for Lebanon. This is why our group did not support this text.”
"It's staggering that he [Mariani] should claim to be freeing Lebanon from foreign interference when he has written that he is a friend of Bashar al-Assad, whom he has visited so often."
Mariani recently met with Assad in Syria in March.
"Who occupied Lebanon for so long and who is preventing the return of Syrian refugees, if not the Damascus regime?" Bellamy said, criticizing what he called Mariani's "unavowable links" with the Syrian regime.
'Manipulation of information’
In Lebanon, Thierry Mariani's comments also provoked a reaction.
Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation, denounced a "manipulation of information" after several media outlets picked up on the far-right deputy's remarks to refer to the resolution, without consulting the text.
"The far-right, pro-Assad French MP, Thierry Mariani, made the whole story of yesterday's resolution fall into the trap of focusing on a single sentence about Syrian refugees," Mhanna tweeted.
Political scientist Karim Bitar denounced the statements of a "corrupt demagogue who is trying to capture the votes of a few Aounists in France by claiming to defend Lebanon against Syrian refugees."
"Some naive Lebanese thank him while ignoring that he is a friend and fervent supporter of Bashar al-Assad," Bitar tweeted.
"If he wants Syrian refugees to leave Lebanon, let him start by asking his friend Bashar to take them back," added Bitar.