A delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) meets with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail on Friday, May 10. (Credit: NNA)
A Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) delegation on Friday reiterated its call for Syrian migrants and refugees in Lebanon to be returned to their country of origin, a statement by the party, published by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). said. The party's reassertion of its demand came during a meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, at which, according to the statement, the FPM also slammed what it described as a desire to "replace the Lebanese" with Syrian refugees.
Gebran Bassil's party also claims to have questioned Mikati about a billion-euro aid program promised to Lebanon last week by the European Union (EU) and suspected by some, including the FPM, of acting as a "bribe" to Lebanon to keep 1.5 million Syrians (according to official figures) on its territory.
"We asked the prime minister about the European donation. He indicated that no agreement has been reached, no papers have been signed, and that it is only a European announcement about the donation," an FPM press release reads. The FPM delegation also expressed fear "that the European donation is a way of keeping the displaced [in Lebanon] and delaying their return to Syria."
It also called for any aid that might be handed over to Lebanon to be used to "help Syrians return home," and warned against a desire to "replace the Lebanese [with Syrians], by pushing the Lebanese aside and pushing them to emigrate."
The funds pledged by the EU, which are due to be gradually released until 2027, are to be allocated to a whole range of actors responsible for managing the presence of Syrian refugees, whose numbers were estimated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at 779,645 in March 2024. It should be noted that the UN agency stopped registering Syrian refugees in May 2015, at the request of the Lebanese authorities.
In an interview on Wednesday with the pro-Russian channel Russia Today, Bassil said that "the solution [to the migration crisis] is not to support the Lebanese Army in the fight against emigration to Europe, but to help send migrants back to Syria."
