Marine Le Pen arrived on Sunday night in Lebanon for a two-day visit. A key journey for the candidate of the FN, who tries to acquire an international stature, taking advantage of the long-established relationships of her party. The president of National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen, who had just landed in Lebanon, visited Byblos, an ancient city 40 kilometers north of Beirut, on Sunday evening. The candidate for the French presidential election was received there by Roger Edde, a powerful businessman.
Roger Edde welcomes
"In welcoming Marine Le Pen, I get the president of the first party in France, I do it out of respect for its constituents, it's the face of France," says Roger Edde, smiling.
This is the first meeting with Le Pen but Roger Edde knew her father well. "I have always been admiring his verve and his charisma but he was not eligible, while Marine Le Pen is," he adds.
Plans to acquire an international stature
Marine Le Pen's plans:
For the president of the FN, the objective of the trip to Lebanon is above all to acquire an international stature, which it escapes until now. For the first time, she will be received by a foreign head of state in office, in this case by former General Michel Aoun. Elected President of the Republic in October 2016, after more than two years of negotiations, this ally of Hezbollah and Damascus has already met Emmanuel Macron during his visit in January.
Le Pen will meet the Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on her trip. She will also be received onTuesday, February 21 by some religious dignitaries like the mufti of Beirut (Sunni), as well as by the Maronite Patriarch, spiritual leader of the main Christian community of the country.
Links inherited from civil war
"I have heard so much about Lebanon in my family, by my father, to remind you of these thousand years of friendship between us ... I have also often heard about the misfortunes of Lebanon, its sadness, of its history and of the difficult moments in common, I believe that there is no stronger bond than the bond of bloodshed and together we have this bond," she said with applause.
Indeed, during the war of Lebanon (1975-1990), several militant Fronts committed themselves alongside the Christian militias. A memory, which some in the entourage of the president remember proudly.
