French President Emmanuel Macron awarding the Legion of Honor to former Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Élysée Palace in Paris on April 16, 2025. (Credit: X/@Najib_Mikati.)
The French-Lebanese Coordination Committee (CCLF), which includes several NGOs, criticized on Wednesday the awarding of the Legion of Honor to former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, blaming him for representing "a political system plagued by corruption."
On April 17, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Mikati with the honor at the Élysée Palace. He praised him as a "statesman" and a "friend of France" who distinguished himself through his actions during his last term from September 2021 to February 2025 in a country facing a deep crisis since 2019. This period was notably marked by a presidential vacancy that lasted more than two years and the devastating thirteen-month war between Oct. 8, 2023, and Nov. 27, 2024, between Hezbollah and Israel.
In a statement, the CCLF recalled that the Legion of Honor rewards "individuals whose commitment and values embody these ideals and whose actions honor these principles," denouncing the fact that Mikati does not meet these criteria. This committee includes the Lebanese Collective of France, Change Lebanon, Our New Lebanon, Civic Influence Hub, the World Citizens Movement, and the Forum of Lebanese in Europe.
"Najib Mikati lacked the courage that a statesman must show during the war supporting Gaza, to the detriment of Lebanon's sovereignty and neutrality," criticizes the text. On Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened the southern Lebanon front against Israel by firing shells towards Israel in "solidarity" with Hamas, following the latter's attack and the beginning of the bloody Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave. The committee also blames him for embodying "a political system plagued by corruption and which has systematically sabotaged essential structural, judicial, and financial reforms necessary for Lebanon's recovery, thus exacerbating its political, economic, and social collapse." The statement finally recalls that the former Prime Minister is "targeted by a complaint filed in French courts, revealing serious allegations of corruption and money laundering." Mikati is facing a complaint in France for aggravated money laundering on the grounds of ill-gotten property allegations, filed by the Collectif des Victimes des Pratiques Frauduleuses et Criminelles in Lebanon and the anti-corruption association Sherpa. Allegations that the former head of government has contested.
"Exceeding short-term interests"
The CCLF finally estimated that "France tarnishes its image among the French-Lebanese public by strongly supporting its ties of friendship with such a controversial figure." "How can the victims of the Lebanese crisis, the ruined families, and a hostage society to a politico-mafia power, understand and accept that France honors Mikati?" it questioned. The committee finally emphasized that French-Lebanese relations, "essential and precious, must imperatively exceed short-term interests, to anchor themselves in our values of freedom, justice, and integrity."
The distinction awarded to Mikati has provoked numerous criticisms in Lebanon. Michel Helou, secretary-general of the National Bloc and former general director of L'Orient-Le Jour, among others, stated that Mikati "does not deserve the Legion of Honor at a time when he is targeted by complaints in France for embezzlement."
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