A country still in crisis: Lebanon three years on from Beirut blast

Written by David McAllister MEP, Vice Chairman of the International Democrat Union 

Three years have passed since 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a warehouse in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. More than 220 people died in the incident; thousands more were injured while around 300,000 people lost their homes. To this day, the source of the explosion has not been identified and those responsible have not been held accountable. In fact, the investigation into the causes has been actively obstructed.

The disaster exacerbated the economic hardship the population was already confronted with at the time. The financial crisis began in 2019 when the value of the Lebanese pound plummeted and inflation soared. Since then, the country has been in the midst of one of the world’s most prolonged and acute economic crises. Today, the currency has lost 98% of its value; prices have exploded. Food alone has become over 600% more expensive. According to the United Nations, three quarters of the people in Lebanon live below the poverty line. In addition, there are regular power outages as public electricity is only available for about two hours a day. Notwithstanding such dire conditions, the Mediterranean country still hosts the highest per capita number of refugees worldwide – in particular those who fled from the Bashar Al-Assad Regime and ISIS alike.

Politically, Lebanon is in stalemate. The country has been without a president for nine months since the departure from office of former President Michel Aoun in October 2022, A fully-fledged government has not been in place since the last parliamentary elections in May 2022 during which Hezbollah and its allies lost their majority and Najib Mikati was designated to form a government. So far, he has failed to do so due to a political blockade, determined by a fragile balance of power. Najib Mikati’s “caretaker government” thus has limited capacity to implement necessary reforms, prevent total collapse, and restore the state institutions and the democratic system. In its twelfth attempt on June 14, 2023, Lebanon’s parliament again failed to elect a new president when the bloc led by Hezbollah withdrew after the first round of votes, breaking quorum and preventing a second round of voting, where candidates require only a majority of 65 votes to secure the presidency. This was devastating news, including to us in the International Democrat Union (IDU).

The Lebanese Forces and Kataeb have repeatedly advocated for the situation in Lebanon to be raised at the international level. Already in July 2021, the European Union designed a sanctions framework that allows the imposition of restrictive measures against those who infringe democratic processes and impede the formation of a government in Lebanon. This framework would have expired on July 30 this year but was extended by the Council until July 2024 following a resolution adopted by the European Parliament just two weeks prior.

At the initiative of the European People’s Party (EPP), the Lebanese crisis was discussed at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in April 2023 before being brought to the plenary session through a joint resolution that was adopted with an impressive majority on July 12. While negotiating the respective text, the EPP Group was in turn informed by an IDU resolution tabled by Kataeb at our conference in London. Calling specifically on the European Union, it makes a clear case for the actions to be taken by the international community in support of Lebanon’s economic recovery and political rehabilitation.

There is no doubt that the European Union remains committed to assisting Lebanon and its people to move towards the recovery and stability they deserve. The European Parliament urges the country’s political leadership to expeditiously elect a president to unite the country and swiftly enact the reforms needed to rescue its economy from crisis. Lebanon’s political leaders must not put their personal interests and ambitions above the interests of their country and people. A pressing example is the perpetual deferral of municipal elections. Scheduled for May 31, 2023, they have been postponed for a second year in a row following votes of Hezbollah, Amal, the Free Patriotic Movement, and their allies’ political groups. As the IDU resolution rightfully expresses, these actors repeatedly resort to unconstitutional tactics that exacerbate the political stalemate and systematically increase the dysfunction of the state institutions.

The European Parliament has explicitly encouraged the Ministry of Interior and the Municipalities to request that the European Union deploy an election observation or expert mission that would allow the provision of technical and financial assistance so that these elections can be held under the best possible conditions. We have further pushed for the deployment of a comprehensive EU administrative advisory mission in order to address the accelerating breakdown of public administration.

The answers to Lebanon’s political and economic crises can only come from within Lebanon. Economic and financial reforms are long overdue and urgently needed, chief among them those required to secure an International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. The Staff Concluding Statement of the 2023 Article IV Mission of the IMF to Lebanon noted the limited progress in implementing the comprehensive package of economic reforms, though the adoption of amendments to the Lebanese banking secrecy law was a key step forward. Reforms to the judiciary must follow suit, to ensure independence and to prevent political interference and institutionalized impunity in the justice sector.

Now is the time to select an appropriate leadership, to introduce key reforms and to alleviate the risks from further political volatility compounded with economic instability. This also includes the mobilization of funding to the UN agencies dealing with the ever-increasing number of refugees settled in Lebanon – in particular the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – on a proper plan for a return of these refugees to their home country.