MP Raad: “We support the call for dialogue,
and call on our partners to show common sense and wisdom”.
MP Arslan: “We will participate in the
dialogue. There is no justification for anyone rejecting the principle of
dialogue. Everyone must bear their responsibilities in a more accurate and
broad manner”.
Former MP Franjiyeh: “There is no personal
dispute with His Excellency the President. We support what interlocutors agree
on, but we will not participate”.
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, continued his dialogue-preparatory
meetings, today at the Presidential Palace.
MP Raad:
After the meeting, MP Mohammed Raad, made the
following statement:
“The meeting with His Excellency specifically
addressed the call for national dialogue, which the President had called for.
We reviewed the proposed terms for dialogue, and our position was in support of
this call, in agreement with our participation in the proposed national
dialogue.
We stressed that Lebanon, which is in a time of
hardship and distress, is in need of not interrupting dialogue. In a time of
prosperity, the call for dialogue is normal and necessary, and in a time of
hardship and pressure, continuing dialogue is more than a necessity.
Hence, we affirmed our response to the invitation and
our participation in it. We call on our partners in Lebanon to show reason and wisdom
and to abandon bidding and thinking, because this country is our homeland, and
we are concerned with preserving it and not taking it to the abyss. Whoever
builds it after the abyss is us and no one else. All the others will remain
outside the country and we the Lebanese citizens only, will remain the masters
of this country”.
MP Arslan:
After meeting the President, MP Arslan made the
following statement:
“The current situation is unenviable. We are in a
crisis, and people are living in very difficult conditions. What is happening
is a true crime against all Lebanese.
The economic and financial slackness and the loss of
control over the dollar rate require everyone to assume their responsibilities
in a more accurate, broader and responsible manner. The complete chaos in the
constitutional institutions has made people lose confidence in these
institutions, and this is a dangerous matter and has negative repercussions on our
homeland and its unity.
We are not talking about politics, as there are
economic and financial constants linked to people’s decent living. They should
not be related to political positions and interactions, the price of which is
paid only by the citizen, whether he is employed in the public or private
sector or unemployed.
Continuing in this dark path threatens the security of
the country. In this context, the dialogue must be permanent, and there is no
justification for anyone to reject the principle of dialogue. We can sit down
several times and every day to debate and may even disagree on some points, but
we must proceed according to the rule of democracy and what the majority
decides.
It is not permissible to continue to obstruct this
issue, especially at the gates of a collapse that has already occurred, but
rather it threatens more accumulated collapses that could occur.
From this point of view, we supported the invitation
of His Excellency the President to dialogue, and we will participate if the
dialogue is called for. I hope everyone should leave political positions
outside the framework of the table, and talk seriously to find solutions to the
financial and social problems that the citizen suffers from”.
Questions & Answers:
Question: You are calling for no disruption, but the Council of Ministers is being
disrupted.
Answer: “I do not want to enter into the “egg and chicken” debate. I would like
to reach a conclusion about not weakening the constitutional institutions,
because the opposite will weaken the citizen’s confidence in the state.
Therefore, everything is broken, and it is required to move all state
institutions and positive dialogue among us as Lebanese to get out of this
crisis”.
Question: Do you think that parties which object dialogue play
an internal political role, or are there external indications that prevent the
Lebanese from engaging in dialogue?
Answer: “I do not want to accuse anyone, nor do I have a black intention in
front of me in this matter. What I am saying is that I do not justify any
Lebanese figure resigning from its active role because of the necessity of
finding solutions and activating a sustainable national dialogue that is not
limited to one or two points, in light of the on-going social and financial
collapse. The Lebanese Charter, the constitution and the Lebanese situation,
necessitate the principle of permanent dialogue among the Lebanese”.
Question: Is there a certain “color” taken on this dialogue, as if it is a
dialogue of opposition?
Answer: “I have already answered that, and I said that I
separate our political positions from the principle of the general national
dialogue”.
Question: You are part of the political class; don’t you bear part of the
responsibility for what Lebanon has reached today?
Answer: “The responsibility is borne by all of us, and we are all required to
find solutions and dialogue for this and to save the financial, economic and
social situation in the country”.
Question: How do you participate in a dialogue in which the Druze majority does
not participate? Is it possible to ally with former MP Walid Joumblat in the
upcoming elections?
Answer: “The issue of the majority or the minority is not raised, and my
attendance at the dialogue is from my representative position and not from any
other site. As for the elections, it is too early to talk about them, and not
all alliances have been drawn up yet. The country is currently collapsing, and
there are priorities”.
Question: There is a political group that has a position on the dialogue table.
What dialogue are we talking about, and will it turn into a door for
translating any agreement that will be imposed on the Lebanese from abroad?
Answer: “Let us first acknowledge a basic issue without practicing the “Ostrich”
policy. We are facing a real political system crisis in the country, and we
have been talking about this for years. This system is unproductive, and does
not lead to solutions. Rather, it distributes responsibilities in a chaotic
manner in a way that loses responsibility. Therefore, we must engage in
dialogue to close many loopholes that the constitution does not close,
unfortunately”.
Question: There is talk of a one-sided dialogue.
Answer: “I do not want to accept this issue, and I am still asking if everyone
will bear the responsibility in this matter, as no one participates in the
dialogue as a favor to anyone”.
Question: But the dialogue usually doesn’t lead to results.
Answer: “In this case, what is the alternative? Deciding not to talk? Reaching a
dead end?”
Question: The Presidency of the Republic says that the
political dispute should not turn into a national dispute.
Answer: “Exactly because these matters threaten the unity of the country and the
postulates upon which the principle of establishing the entity was based”.
Question: Are you with fiscal decentralization?
Answer: “When we reach it, we speak. But it is necessary to discuss the
financial and economic issue”.
Former MP Franjiyeh:
After the meeting, former MP Franjiyeh made the
following statement:
“We responded to His Excellency the President’s
personal invitation to meet. Since the first day of his election, we have
already said that when His Excellency the President invites us to meet, we are
ready, and I told him that we will remain on this principle until the last day
of his term, in order to give our opinion and if he wants to take it or hear
it, it is up to him. There is no personal position with His Excellency; rather
we meet together on strategic issues.
As for dialogue, it must be between two groups with
different opinions, or it should be within one team, there is no point in
dialogue just for the sake of form. Therefore, we wished them success, and any
decision taken by this team, we will support it without hesitation, knowing
that they will not agree on something we oppose, but that we attend only for
the sake of attendance, there is no point in that. Therefore, we will not
participate in the dialogue”.
Questions & Answers:
Question: Is it true that there is an effort by Hezbollah for reconciliation
between you and the Free Patriotic Movement in preparation for an electoral
alliance?
Answer: “Hezbollah only works for the good between us and the Free Patriotic
Movement, but everyone has their own opinion. It must be known. Is Minister
Gebran Bassil ok with allying with the corrupt”.
Question: Is the dialogue a prelude to your path to the presidency?
Answer: “If the matter was true, I would have worked to please His Excellency
the President. But I said my opinion”.
President Aoun will complete his preparatory meetings
tomorrow, where he will receive a delegation from the “Consultative Meeting”
Bloc, a delegation from the “Social Nationalist Party” Bloc, the “Armenian
Representatives” Bloc, and a delegation of “Strong Lebanon” Bloc.