Date: Feb 25, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Hariri looks to bridge Europe gap on sidelines of Egypt summit Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Sunday with British Prime Minister Theresa May and senior European Union officials on the sidelines of the first-ever summit between the EU and the Arab League being held in Egypt, discussing bilateral relations and developments in the region. The EU-Arab summit was opened by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The two-day summit, bringing European and Arab leaders together for the first time, will discuss political and economic issues and seek to strengthen Arab-European relations, a statement from Hariri’s media office said. Hariri arrived earlier in the day in Sharm el-Sheikh, heading Lebanon’s delegation to the summit. The delegation includes Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, Industry Minister Wael Abu Faour and former Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury, a key adviser to Hariri. Hariri’s meeting with May, which was also attended by British Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alistair Burt, Bassil and Khoury, discussed Lebanese-British relations and developments in the region, the statement said. The Lebanese premier also held talks separately with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi, EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the statement added. Hariri later held talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in the presence of Bassil and Khoury on bilateral relations and the latest developments in the region before meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. At the end of the first session Sunday night, Hariri and the Lebanese delegation attended the dinner hosted by the Egyptian president for the attending delegations. According to the statement, Hariri was set to also hold talks on the sidelines of the summit with Sisi, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Arab and European leaders are expected to discuss efforts to combat people smuggling as well as issues related to security, trade, development and migration. Climate change, migration, trade and investment are on Sunday’s agenda, EU sources said.Conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya are to be discussed Monday. Arab League hosts said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would also be raised. Among leaders from the Cairo-based 22-member Arab League attending the summit is Saudi King Salman who delivered a speech. Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai called for unity and cooperation within the new Cabinet in order to fight corruption and carry out key economic and financial reforms recommended at the CEDRE conference, deemed essential to bolster the country’s ailing economy, battered by $85 billion in public debt, an endemic budget deficit and slow growth. “We have heard the nation’s legislators during the discussion of the [Cabinet’s] policy statement two weeks ago talking at length in explaining the rising unemployment and the economic crisis which is sounding the alarm bell,” Rai said in his sermon during Sunday’s Mass he chaired in Bkirki. “While wishing the new government success in achieving the wishes of the MPs, fighting corruption and implementing reforms in the infrastructure and sectors mentioned in the Paris CEDRE conference as a means to acquire [the pledged] $11.5 billion in soft loans and grants to revitalize the economy, we hope that the government will strengthen links of unity and cooperation among its members, rise above differences and accusations and work in the spirit of the Constitution, the [National] Charter and laws,” he added. The patriarch’s comments followed the Cabinet’s first postconfidence session last week, when a debate on normalizing ties with the Syrian regime prompted President Michel Aoun to abruptly end it, saying that he was the one who decided the country’s higher interests. Aoun’s firm stance has revived an off-and-on row over the constitutional powers of the president and the prime minister in outlining Lebanon’s policies. At Thursday’s Cabinet session, ministers from the Lebanese Forces criticized what they claimed were breaches of Lebanon’s policy of dissociation, represented by a recent visit to Damascus by Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib to discuss refugee returns, as well as recent comments by Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab, who asserted that Lebanese ministers are free to visit Syria at will. Bou Saab, who belongs to Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, had also emphasized the need for direct communication between Beirut and Damascus over Syrian refugee returns. LF leader Samir Geagea, who had criticized Bou Saab’s remarks, said in comments published in the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat Sunday: “Which is the political group that was behind persuading President Michel Aoun that the mere start of normalizing ties between the two countries will lead to the return of displaced [Syrians to their country]?” The Cabinet session, the first since it gained an overwhelming vote of confidence from Parliament Feb. 15, clearly indicated divisions between ministers who support normalizing ties with the Syrian regime and those who don’t. The FPM, the Amal Movement, Hezbollah and its allies support normalized ties and coordination with Syria to ensure a safe return of Syrian refugees to their country, while Hariri’s Future Movement, the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party staunchly oppose any direct contacts with the regime before a political solution to the conflict in Syria is reached.