Asked in his weekly seminar about the results of the Paris-2 meeting, and if it were a surprise to him, the Religious Authority H.E Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fudlullah said:

I was not surprised by the results of Paris-2. I have repeated several times that its aim is not to get Lebanon out of its economic crisis, or send it to the recovery room. It only gives the country some tranquilizers in view of the nature of the developments the region is passing through. There is an agreement between international and regional parties that Lebanon should not be allowed to disrupt the execution of the plan that has been drawn for the region at the highest levels.

Moreover, the results have affirmed what I have always thought that they have planned for Lebanon : Total collapse is forbidden. Not because they care for Lebanon , but because it would create a state of chaos that will destabilize the security of Lebanon and hence have a negative impact on the interests of the international powers, since it will be almost certainly be reflected on the Lebanese borders with the Zionist enemy.

Therefore, we believe that what Lebanon got in this meeting is a doze of temporary support that comes packed with conditions and suggestions. The countries that allowed this demonstration to succeed without giving Lebanon any money, especially the United States and the European countries that fall under its hegemony, tried to suggest that more aid could be offered but with many further economic and political strings attached. They want concrete evidence that this small country will not harass Israel . For it will be then subjected to economic sanctions and not only political ones.

Therefore, it is probable that the IMF will enter from the window, to make sure that all the conditions of the countries that support it are met.

And this will make everybody realize that what Lebanon got from Paris-2 was not for free. Lebanon should at least send the proper security and political signals, to maintain the drop by drop support at the same slow pace.

We do not want to lessen the importance of some of the results of the meeting, but we believe that the issue lies in the way the government will invest these results in initiating internal reform. In this respect, we warn against letting the deprived and poor classes pay the price. On the other hand, we have to stay vigilant to prevent any move towards circumscribing the Lebanese vanguard movement that fought the occupier, and give Lebanese independence its true meaning.

Therefore, we need to join hands in one big political and economic workshop to benefit of the current circumstances and of what was achieved in Paris-2 and to invest all this in preserving our internal entity, whether politically, economically, or at the level of sovereignty as well.