Screenshot of conference poster to which Bassil was invited (Credit: )
BEIRUT — Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil was invited by Thierry Mariani, member of the National Rally and of the Identity and Democracy Group in the European Parliament, to speak about Syrian refugees in Lebanon at a conference in Strasbourg.
The conference titled "Syrian Population Displacement: Existential Danger for Lebanon, Imminent Threat for Europe" is organized by the European parliamentary group Identity and Democracy, to which the French far-right party The National Rally belongs.
It is scheduled to take place on Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. local time in room "Weiss".
The conference was announced via posters distributed by group and confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour by FPM spokesman. The spokesman added that Gebran Bassil's visit to Strasbourg was part of a tour in France which will include a stopover in Paris.
Bassil was sanctioned in Nov. 2020 by the United States, which accused him of corruption.
Syrian refugees in Lebanon were an intense public debate in the country since late summer, fueled by reports of an increase in their influx in recent months.
On Sept. 11, the caretaker cabinet adopted measures to drastically limit the entry and movement of Syrian migrants who illegally entered Lebanese territory. The cabinet planned to send a delegation to Damascus to discuss the issue, which was on the agenda ten days later when caretaker Prime Minister Nagib Mikati was at the 78th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Bassil used the expression "existential danger" on this subject on Sunday, in a speech delivered during a tour of the Bekaa. The same term was used in September by the Lebanese Army's Commander-in-Chief Joseph Aoun at a cabinet meeting.
On Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called for a "national strategy" and stated that "there is national unanimity on the fact that the refugee issue constitutes an existential threat to Lebanon."
Thierry Mariani visited Lebanon in 2020 with National Rally MP Jean-Lin Lacapelle as part of an official visit. They were greeted by President Michel Aoun, founder of the FPM.
Last July, Aoun criticized part of the content of a resolution just passed by the European Parliament about Syrian refugees in Lebanon, concerned that the text supported their "retention" on Lebanese territory. In response, François-Xavier Bellamy, who belongs to the European People's Party Group (Christian Democrats), criticized the "appalling manipulation" of Thierry Mariani and the "unspeakable links" Mariani has with the Syrian regime, which is heavily sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.