EU calls on local leaders to resolve crisis

 

The EU should act urgently to help bring about a peaceful resolution to Lebanon”s ongoing political crisis, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) said on Thursday.

 

But the MEPs reached no agreement on how the EU could best intervene in a region where the interests of Syria, Iran, Israel and the US all play a part.

 

“Violence could break out at any moment … with unforeseeable consequences for the country and its people,” EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn warned MEPs.

 

The commission”s key priority in the near future will be to support Arab League efforts to resolve the crisis, since this “represents the only option to find a solution,” Rehn said.

 

MEPs highlighted the key role played by Syria in the Lebanese crisis. “Lebanon cannot be governed from Damascus, but it cannot be governed against Damascus either,” conservative MEP Jose Ignacio Salafranca said.
 

“We have to bear Damascus and other capitals in mind, but we have to focus on the confrontation between new forces in Lebanon, expressed by the systematic assassination of adversaries,” liberal MEP Marco Pannella said.

 

Several MEPs also mentioned to the pivotal role played by Hizbullah, with Polish right-wing MEP Konrad Szymanski urging the EU to add the group to its blacklist of terror organizations.

 

But most stressed the fact that the only viable way out of the impasse would be for Lebanon”s politicians to find their own compromise, with the EU playing a supporting role.