Since the summer of 2019, Lebanon has witnessed a prolonged economic collapse, with which the local currency has lost more than 90% of its value against the dollar. More than 55% of the population is now living below the poverty line due to the deterioration of their purchasing power.
While there are no radical solutions on the horizon to save the country, and officials are drowning in sharp political differences that have prevented since the explosion of the port of Beirut in August The past without the formation of a government capable of carrying out reforms that the international community puts as a condition for Lebanon to obtain financial support, the European Union has started a legal path to impose European sanctions on those obstructing the political process in Lebanon, in order to put each official in front of his responsibility.
This What was announced by the Ambassador of the European Union in Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, explaining that “sanctions are a means that we are studying how to use to improve the situation in Lebanon within the concept of assistance and not punishment.”
is extremely difficult
He pointed out in an interview with the local MTV channel yesterday evening, Saturday, that “Lebanon has reached a very difficult moment, which is an unprecedented financial and economic crisis, and the people are no longer able to continue and endure.”
He also called for an urgent decision because “the length of the crisis will lead to More problems, as the Lebanese are unemployed and have no food on their tables, without forgetting the losses they incurred from the outbreak of the Corona virus and the explosion of the Port of Beirut.”
“New Legitimacy”
In addition, he spoke of a European conviction that “the political system is in dire need of a new legitimacy,” calling on the current authority to “hold the parliamentary elections on their due date in 2022 and to make every effort to ensure the organization and conduct of these democratic benefits so that change can follow its natural course.” In Lebanon”.
From Beirut on November 24, 2020
It is noteworthy that the repercussions of the collapse did not Any social class provides and aggravates day by day the suffering of the population, who are now struggling to secure a livelihood.
