Jean-Yves Le Drian, the new “personal envoy” of the President of the Republic, is visiting Lebanon on Wednesday. But in the land of the Cedars, the image of Emmanuel Macron has deteriorated considerably.
In the bourgeois neighborhood of Badaro, in the heart of Beirut, you meet a lot of French-speaking and Francophile Lebanese. “France is like our second homeland, we loved de Gaulle, Chirac, everyone…” underlines Nina before qualifying: “But I don’t know what’s wrong with this Macron, we love him more, we loved him, but we don’t love him anymore!” laughs the 82-year-old woman.
Feeling of having been “betrayed” by France
Yet three years ago, Emmanuel Macron was cheered by the crowds when he visited the capital of Lebanon, after the port explosion. “We said to ourselves: ‘Oh, but here is our saviour’, everyone ran towards him’, remembers Nina bitterly. “Today I feel betrayed because we were really counting on France.”
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This feeling of betrayal runs through a large part of the population, which accuses France of having shown naivety, by continuing to dialogue with the corrupt political class. So the visit of Jean-Yves Le Drian, Catherine, 32, does not have much to do. “If he comes for a vacation, that’s great. Otherwise, it’s useless.” The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was appointed on June 7 “correspondent” of the President of the Republic for Lebanon for “facilitate a consensual and effective solution” to the political impasse in which the country finds itself, explained the Elysée in a press release. Because eight months after the resignation of Michel Aoun, Lebanon remains without a head of state.
“We are more French than Lebanese sometimes but unfortunately with Macron, we have reached a point where we no longer like France.”
Catherine, a residentfranceinfo
Catherine no longer expects anything from French diplomacy. Nevertheless, “the Lebanese have always appreciated and loved France”she points out. “It’s a country we’ve always counted on.” But today, she believes that the French state is only looking for its “interests” And “doesn’t give a damn about Lebanon and the Lebanese”. The evidence, she says, “It’s that France supports Frangié”. Sleiman Frangié, candidate for the Lebanese presidential election supported by Hezbollah, by Iran and by the Élysée.
A “naive” French diplomatic
An incomprehensible choice for Jean Riachi, investment banker, formerly close to macronie. “When French diplomacy presented Mr. Frangié as a good candidate given the circumstances, it was to admit from the start, the defeat of the idea of a sovereign state in Lebanon”, he explains. “Candidate Sleiman Frangié, when he talks about reforms, it’s purely semantic because he met people at the Élysée’s diplomatic cell who told him ‘we want reforms’. He said okay , ‘we are going to make reforms’.
According to him, France “was very naive and unfortunately, he continues, it has an impact on public opinion in Lebanon because it is almost a slap in the face for the Lebanese people.” Jean Riachi now hopes that the Elysée will line up behind another candidate, capable of raising the Lebanese economy.