I declare my readiness to assume responsibility for the position of prime minister
Representative Ibrahim Mneimneh announced his readiness to assume the position of prime minister, based on our commitment to work on implementing our political project at this fateful moment.
He said in a statement: Now that we have elected a President of the Lebanese Republic in accordance with the hopes and aspirations of the Lebanese men and women, the actual task today for us as representatives is to provide every possible push to surround the Covenant with the factors of success and the tools for implementing the speech of the oath, whose addresses we have always struggled to achieve in the street and during the revolution. October 17, and today from the Parliament, led by the free and independent state that embraces all its components and extends its sovereignty over all its lands.
He added: There is no escape from being frank among us today, and saying that the experiments and alternation between the sects in monopolization and hegemony have all failed, the most recent of which is Hezbollah’s experiment in monopolizing the decision of war and peace. It is the moment when we, as Lebanese, acknowledge our equal failure. All sects have failed and all sects have been exhausted, and it has become necessary for us to seize the opportunity and benefit from what is happening today and immediately align with the logic of state building without bargaining, hesitation, or tampering with this concept, and the most important thing is to protect the country from any dangers.
He continued: It is our responsibility as the Lebanese people at this fateful juncture to turn that moment into a moment of liberation from the burdens of our failed attempts and our illusions of relying on sectarian power as a guarantor of sectarian privileges that do not fatten or satisfy hunger. Let us build our state on the foundations of equality, national cohesion, our common destiny, and the national interest, under the postulates of state sovereignty, the rule of the constitution, law, and democracy. A country that unleashes Lebanese creativity and vitality within a framework of diversity and harmony of Lebanese components. A true national state based on land, borders, people, and a social contract in accordance with the National Accord Document, to manage people’s affairs through the law and the forces of legitimacy that have the exclusive right to use weapons and protect the country.
Mneimneh believed that in the next stage, Lebanon faces the need to implement Resolution 1701, which will lead to the return of stability to the south if it is adhered to, in addition to the challenge of securing Israel’s withdrawal and returning to the 1949 Armistice Agreement and confining weapons to the legitimate state. The natural gateway to protecting Lebanon is the army, which must work to strengthen its ability in long-term cumulative national political action by presenting an integrated national approach that gives satisfactory answers on how to protect the country from the standpoint of the national security strategy, under the roof of the state and based on our own capabilities, which must take into account the foundations Our strength at all political, diplomatic, economic and military levels.
He announced that the next stage is the stage of restoring foreign policy as part of restoring the state by reviewing our role in the region and the world, the basis of which is the national interest and transforming Lebanese diversity, which used to express deficiency and weakness and attract problems and conflicts, into a point of strength so that this diversity becomes the gateway to formulating a foreign policy. An initiative towards the region, especially the system of Arab countries to which we belong. Our foreign policy must be neutral but effective in contributing to solving problems, mediating and playing the role of mediator, based on our diplomatic capabilities and history.
He continued: The next stage is to rebuild the state on modern foundations. There is no escape from entering into a major modernization workshop for the state at all levels. The modernization process is not intended as formal treatments or limited digital transformation that avoids delving into the process of rationalization, streamlining, and activating oversight and accountability mechanisms in the country, which will extend deep into the system of government and administration. The beginning is by restoring the values of the modern state, which were enshrined in the National Accord Document (Taif Agreement), which in turn will become the measure of the development and efficiency of state institutions, and include: transparency, equality, accountability, public service, integrity, rule of law, efficiency, and justice. This workshop covers the three legislative, executive and judicial authorities and their affiliated institutions. It is based on an assessment of the gaps in the separation of powers and their balance based on the National Accord Document. Of course, one of the most important pillars of the reform process is the adoption of the law on the independence of the judiciary based on the observations of the Venice Commission of the European Council.
He added: The next stage is the stage of reconstruction after the devastating war, without corruption or waste, just as it is the stage of development that takes us out of the logic of division among ourselves, to fortifying internal cohesion, through bold interventions at the policy level by the state, based on strengthening formal education. , leading to an effective public transportation network throughout the country, and in parallel, a return to balanced development policies based on an integrated national strategy, local governance frameworks, and administrative decentralization, as stipulated in the reconciliation document. National, is based on the principle of interdependence, solidarity and integration, not rivalry and negative competition. This development leads to the empowerment of the Lebanese in their regions and does not reproduce the feeling of marginalization, thus creating fertile grounds for instability.
He said: The next stage is to put the country on the path to economic recovery by adopting financial reforms, protecting the rights of depositors, restructuring banks, and launching a reform workshop that will move the country to a productive economy, enhance individual initiative, and work to strengthen the principle of the sponsoring state, but in return, it does not follow a policy that may God forgive the past. Rather, it is held accountable, recovers the stolen funds, and returns the rights to their owners.
He pointed out that many Lebanese have recently expressed their regained sense of hope in building our homeland on sound foundations, avoiding falling into our traditional choices of internal or external wars, immigration, or acceptance and silence of a reality that is not compatible with our capabilities. But this hope is accompanied by caution, which sometimes amounts to a kind of warning: This may be the last opportunity to build this country, and here it must be remembered that Lebanon is not only the experience of building a typical modern national state in this East, but the importance of Lebanon goes beyond that to reach the uniqueness of its experience in trying to balance… In preserving cultural diversity within the framework of a modern, democratic national state with political, social and economic stability. But what is most important is that we are aware that the next stage is a decisive stage in the future of our country, for the transition to building the modern state, and therefore we must all from now on approach all entitlements from this standpoint and with the aim of successfully completing this transitional stage.
Mneimneh concluded: Accordingly, after consulting with a number of colleagues and the popular base, I declare my readiness to assume responsibility for the position of prime minister, based on our commitment to work on implementing our political project at this fateful moment, provided that we continue with our fellow representatives political consultations with various parties, open to any A proposal that achieves the highest interest of our country and the aspirations of our people.
