We will not be far from each other during the elections

The President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri received this afternoon at the Center House the Head of Marada Movement MP Sleiman Franjieh, accompanied by his son Tony Franjieh and Minister Youssef Fenianos, in the presence of Minister Ghattas Khoury, the Prime Minister's press office indicated on Tuesday.

Discussions focused on the latest developments and continued over a lunch held by Hariri on the occasion.
After the meeting, MP Franjieh said: "The meeting was a political and social one. We talked about all issues, particularly after the period that passed and the previous periods where friendliness was essential between us and the Prime Minister. Today’s meeting included political talk and how things and there was an agreement on almost all issues."

Question: Did Prime Minister Hariri inform you about who he meant when he said that he will "say everything"?
Frangieh: No. I did not ask him and he did not say.

Question: Will there be an electoral alliance among five, or six groups?
Frajieh: There are still five months before the elections. During this period, many things change and the scene today may change in days or months. We talked about all issues and we will not be far from each other during the elections.

Question: How do you visualize the coming period?
Franjieh: What should happen is what is happening now. We can see a positive atmosphere which we hope will continue and we should help each to maintain the positive atmosphere. This is the basis.

Question: There was talk about a meeting with Minister Gebran Bassil. Could this meeting take place soon?
Frajieh: Let me clarify this. I heard it in the media just as you did, but no one raised this with me. Our doors are always open to Gebran Bassil and others, but no one spoke to us about this.

Question: Al-Marada is not committed to any alliance until now?
Franjieh: Al-Marada is clear, it wants its interest in the constituency where it is now present and in all constituencies where it can have influential friends.

Question: Are the Lebanese Forces among them?
Franjieh: If our interest is with the Lebanese Forces electorally. But until now I said it clearly, we are not in the atmosphere of any alliance with the Lebanese Forces. We are in an atmosphere of dialogue with them but we are still studying things. We said that we put the past behind us and during the elections we will see how we can win the largest number of MPs who are in the line of al-Marada.

Question: What is your position regarding the disassociation policy and the breaches it witnessed?
Franjieh: We supported the disassociation policy. As for the breaches, I ask: does the disassociation include Israel or not? If we are talking about what happened in the South, it is related to UNSCR 1701 and has nothing to do with the disassociation regarding the Arab countries.
When we talk about breaching UNSCR 1701, let us count the number of breaches carried out by Israel per year. If only the Lebanese, or some of them, would react to only one percent of the breaches done by Israel as they did to the breach that took place. If you want to be fair, you should react to Israeli breaches and other breaches. As I said, we shed the light on the negative points and not on the positive ones.
When the Iraqi official visited the south, Prime Minister Hariri said that he is forbidden to enter Lebanon and the issue ended here. But the striking thing is that those who raised the voice were Israel’s allies in the past and I am not accusing them.
What I want to say in this respect is that positivity should prevail.
When there is a national responsibility, the breaches should be tackled through it

Source: NNA