French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will arrive in Lebanon next Wednesday evening for a 24-hour visit during which he will meet with senior officials and a limited number of politicians, following France's decision to restrict the entry of officials and those accused of corruption and obstructing government formation into its territory. The "Asharq Al-Awsat" newspaper reported on Monday that the identities of the Lebanese politicians whom Paris has decided to ban from entering France are not yet known.
The newspaper clarified that Paris will go further, as it is working with the United States and Britain to impose joint sanctions on corrupt or obstructive entities after French officials determined that the European sanctions being pushed forward face multiple obstacles and may never materialize. Hence, the idea is to collaborate with willing parties to exert serious pressure on Lebanese politicians, either individually or collectively, but outside the framework of the European Union. At the top of the additional sanctions list is the freezing of the assets of the individuals concerned, so that the combination of entry bans, asset freezes, and the potential for trials under French law known as "unlawfully acquired assets" serves as a "deterrent weapon" that Paris has long hesitated to resort to.
