“Masdar Diplomacy”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued on Tuesday a political statement on the political situation in the country:
“On 31 October, the mandate of President Aoun expired. After four inconclusive rounds of parliamentary votes, no candidate was elected, and the Presidency of Lebanon is now vacant.
Since the last general elections in May no government was formed. Such political vacuum is occurring while Lebanon is facing a deteriorating socioeconomic situation. Institutional volatility compounded with economic instability would pose serious risks for Lebanon and its people.
The EU once again calls on the Lebanese leadership to organise presidential elections and form a government with the utmost urgency.
In July 2022, the EU renewed a sanctions framework that allows to impose restrictive measures on individuals or entities blocking an exit to the Lebanese crisis.
In order to facilitate the disbursement of the additional international funding and reverse the deteriorating trend of the Lebanese economy, a disbursing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must be reached; and key, long overdue reforms must be undertaken without any further delay.
The EU remains committed to continue assisting Lebanon and its people to move towards the recovery and stability they deserve. the same time, the EU urges the Lebanese leadership to face its responsibilities and take action”.
Marlene Khalifeh
Marlene Khalifeh, a Lebanese journalist. She worked for a period of twelve years in An-Nahar” newspaper before moving to “As-Safir” were she spent ten years as a diplomatic reporter. Between these two periods, Mrs. Khalifeh published many articles in the Al Hayat” and “Al Riyad” newspapers, “Al Wassat” and “Newsweek Middle East” magazines.
She created her own website “Masdar diplomacy”,on the 11th of July 2016 focusing on diplomatic activities in Lebanon and the Middle East.
After attending many training courses in a number of European, American, and English institutions, she specialized in investigative journalism. Her hard work paid off when she was awarded, twice (in 2004 and 2005), with the “investigative journalist” prize by the Commonwealth (in Jordan) among four Arab participating countries. Afterwards, she focused her attention on the politic and diplomatic press training and research on fact checking.
