There will be no structural support in Lebanon without reforms. Foreign capitals, international organizations and multilateral donors stuck to their positions vis-à-vis Lebanese political leaders, Wednesday, December 2, during the conference organized at the initiative of Paris and the UN to take stock of emergency aid following the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4. But these exhortations, repeated over and over for months, have had no effect on the leaders of the country, threatened with total collapse, and the situation is unlikely to change.
No new government has been formed since Hassan Diab resigned from the cabinet in August. Attempts to audit the Central Bank, a condition set by donors, have stumbled. The results of the deadly summer blast investigation have yet to be released. So many slaps at the initiative launched by Emmanuel Macron, the 1er September from Beirut. He does not resign himself: “We will never give up, neither on the promises we made nor on our demands, whether they relate to the reforms or the investigation into the origins of the port explosion. I will be traveling to Lebanon again in December to wear them. “
The conference on Wednesday focused on the humanitarian component. The French president underlined it: the amount of emergency aid disbursed – more than 280 million euros – exceeded the promises made in August, during the donors’ conference initiated by Paris. This is one of the few victories for France. In particular, this sum covered financial assistance for more than 73,000 people.
The “republic of NGOs”
Today, it is a question of remobilizing donors when, in the field, the needs remain enormous. Big budgets have been allocated to housing and food security. But the rehabilitation of damaged apartments is being done in small quantities. And other sectors feel they are underfunded.
It is on the UN, international or local NGOs and civil society – whose representatives were invited on Wednesday – that donors intend to continue to rely. As early as August, the risk of corruption, badly endemic in Lebanon, and of embezzlement, had been pointed out by the international community. She also says she is keen not to appear to bail out the political class – the very one she has long supported.
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