Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called on the new government to “work as a unified national team that reflects the state’s unity.”
He added that the government must “halt the deterioration and confront the incessant attempts to undermine the state and harm its democratic system.”
“The state cannot function properly amid practices or stances that contradict with its entity and institutions,” al-Rahi said.
“They simply call them points of contention, as if resolving them is unnecessary, such as Lebanon’s neutrality and its nonalignment; the correction of the practices that violate the constitution and the Taef Accord; the way the fuel tanker trucks were brought in; and the obstruction of the probe into the port crime, as if what’s wanted is to halt the investigation,” the patriarch lamented.
Al-Rahi, however, added that what boosts his hope is that “the domestic, regional and international circumstances that gave birth to this government allow it to carry out the urgent efforts that the Lebanese people need from it.”
He accordingly called on the government to “conduct reforms, revive the financial and economic activity, secure the academic year, support the private schools alike the official ones, resolve the fuel and electricity crisis, shut down smuggling crossings on the border, and address the issue of apple refrigerators to avoid its spoilage.”