EU to impose sanctions on Lebanese politicians

The European Union (EU) says it will create a sanctions regime targeting officials in Lebanon, which has been grappling with an economic crisis amid a failure to form a new government.

The decision came during a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said the European officials had “reached a political understanding that a sanctions regime against those who are responsible for the situation should be established.”

“I can say that the objective is to complete this by the end of the month. I am not talking about the implementation of the regime, just the building of the regime according to [a] sound legal basis,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels.

The EU, led by France — the former colonizer of Lebanon — is seeking to ramp up pressure on the Lebanese authorities in an attempt to force the formation of a Western-friendly government.

“Lebanon has been in self-destruct mode for several months,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Brussels on Monday. He added that the “legal framework” agreed by the bloc “will be a tool to pressure the Lebanese authorities” on government formation.

After setting up a sanctions regime, the EU could see individuals hit by travel bans and asset freezes, although it may also decide to not list anybody immediately.

The latest development came as French President Emmanuel Macron called for a new political pact among Lebanese political factions and threatened the country’s leaders with sanctions if they did not submit to “political change” during an uninvited visit to Lebanon that followed a blast at Beirut port in August 2020.

Back then, Macron’s remarks sparked a swift backlash, with many Twitter users denouncing what they deemed as interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon, which gained independence from the French colonial rule more than seven decades ago.