President Joseph Aoun. (Credit: X/@LBPresidency)
BEIRUT — President Joseph Aoun visited on Friday the Economic, Social and Environmental Council and stressed on the importance of consulting the body on the matters that concern it.
"An amended law, which was approved by the Parliament, obliges the government to consult you in every economic, social or environmental matter ... It opens the door for other constitutional institutions to consult you as well ... Do not waive this right ... I am here today, to pledge to be with you ... Protect your duty and your right," Aoun told the president of the council and its members, according to a statement released by the Lebanese presidency on X.
"I need you ... I need your opinion. I need your advice, to your expertise, science, planning and studies ... This is what your honorable council, headed by Charles Arbid and all the members, achieved," he added.
"Ladies and gentlemen, President and members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, officials of all Lebanese economic sectors ... I come to you today to ask you for a favor. It is to help me, and every official in Lebanon, to start our work immediately from the aforementioned third phase."
Aoun continued: "In public affairs, there are two schools of thought. One school believes that politics is an authoritarian activity centered on the ruler and its goal is the good of the ruler ... A second school believes that politics is a human-centered activity ... and its goal is the good of humans ... First and last ... I, ladies and gentlemen, am a believer in the second school."
Asked by a reporter about the solution in South Lebanon in light of the Israeli occupation of five strategic points there, Aoun said: "There is no solution except through diplomacy, and I said in Bkirki, 'If you want war, we can no longer carry the language of war.'"
In late November 2024, Lebanon and Israel reached a cease-fire agreement to the conflict that started in October 2023. The conflict escalated in September 2024, before a cease-fire was reached two months later. Although Israel was supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Feb. 18, as per the cease-fire agreement signed between the two countries in late November and extended in January, the Israeli army remains present at five strategic points in southern Lebanon and continues to bomb houses and cars in the area almost every day.
