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Monday, 28 September 2020_French President Emmanuel Macron has given Lebanese political leaders an ultimatum to form a new government within six weeks.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib announced his resignation on Saturday amid a deadlock over the government formation in the crisis-hit country.
Macron, who had threatened Lebanese leaders with sanctions if they did not submit to reforms and a “political change,” said on Sunday he was "ashamed of Lebanon's political leaders".
Speaking at at a news conference devoted to Lebanon in Paris on Sunday, Macron said the Lebanese political leaders had “decided to betray this commitment” to form a government by mid-September.
Macron also accused the Lebanese authorities and political forces of favoring “their partisan and individual interests to the detriment of the general interest of the country".
The French president had initially proposed a roadmap to Lebanese authorities to unlock billions of dollars in funds from the international community during his colonial-style sojourn in Lebanon that followed Beirut's cataclysmic blast in August.
The visit was slammed by many Twitter users over what they deemed as interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon, which gained independence from the French colonial rule more than seven decades ago.
On Sunday, Macron gave political leaders 4-6 weeks to form a new government.
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