BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai Saturday warned against austerity measures affecting Lebanese citizens who already have “financial burdens.”
“[We must] look first to the rich and capable, before demanding anything from citizens who are weighed down by financial burdens,” he said in his Easter message, broadcast on local TV.
In order to reduce Lebanon’s budget deficit, Rai called for an end to the wastage of public funds and for the state to crack down on smuggling and illegal importing.
He urged politicians to forget their personal interests and extract themselves from “the state of mistrust” that they find themselves in, proposing that politicians instead busy themselves with “development projects of all types” that would not be “forcibly imposed on the citizen.”
Politicians’ self interest “has manifested in sectarian rule in ministries and public administrations, sectarian semi-states and political interference in public administration, appointments, the judiciary and the bypassing of some security apparatuses,” Rai said.
This has driven some to find sanctuary in the church, he continued.
“The church cannot remain silent before the attacks its children are being subjected to. [Lebanese citizens] find refuge in [the church] because they have lost faith in the political class. The church does not wait for praise but simply asks that the state perform its duties.”
He praised the “commendable efforts to help rebuild Notre-Dame,” referring to the 900 million euros (about $1 billion) pledged in the two days following the fire that ravaged the iconic Parisian cathedral.
He said that the money raised should inspire the Lebanese diaspora to think about playing a larger role in giving aid to Lebanon to help fix its budget deficit in order to prevent the “structural collapse” of the Lebanese state.