“National Dialogue” Party Chief, MP Fouad Makhzoumi, met today at his Central Beirut office with a European Parliamentary delegation, including former Romanian Prime Minister, Member of the European Union, Dacian Siolos; Member of the Defense Committee of the European Union, MP Christophe Grodler; Member of the French Foreign Affairs Committee, MP Salima Yanbo, and MP Georgios Christos, in the presence of his Political Advisor Carol Zwein, and Deputies Bilal Al-Hushaimi, Elias Estphan, Adeeb Abdel-Masih, Raji Al-Saad and Journalist Ali Hamadeh. The meeting was a chance to continue the discussions that were started with the European delegation during the Lebanese deputies’ visit headed by MP Makhzoumi to Stockholm, Brussels and Washington last April, especially regarding the presidential elections in Lebanon amidst the prevailing deadlock and the sharp divisions over this dossier. The deputies briefed the European delegation on the reform road map they had prepared, reaffirming the need to elect a president of the republic from outside the corrupt system and not to impose any candidate on the Lebanese. ‘What is required is a rescue, sovereign president with a clear and effective reform program,’ they underlined, noting that ‘state institutions cannot be regulated without a president of the republic and a prime minister who possesses the same specifications, rendering the implementation of reforms and reaching an agreement with the IMF as top priority.’ The deputies renewed “their adherence to agreement with the IMF, which is a mandatory pathway for reforms and the only means to restore the international community’s confidence in Lebanon and the country’s relations with the Gulf States and Saudi Kingdom that offer Lebanon all care and support.”

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon