EU Parliament resolution urges sanctions on Lebanon officials

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Beirut, Lebanon
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for the EU to adopt targeted sanctions on Lebanese officials engaged in corruption and obstructing the Beirut Port explosion investigation.
In a vote on Thursday, 571 out of 681 members of European Parliament backed the resolution, which condemned Lebanese political parties for the country’s devastating economic crisis, which has plunged about three-quarters of the population into poverty and for delaying any semblance of economic recovery and accountability.
The resolution, spearheaded by parliamentarian Christophe Grudler, who belongs to the Renew Europe bloc, urged the EU to maintain pressure on political leaders in Lebanon, where a government was formed last week following more than a year of political deadlock.
“We know who is responsible for the political and the economic crisis: all factions, most ministries, many corrupted MPs,” Grudler told Al Jazeera. “We are writing black and white what everyone in Lebanon knows.”
The resolution notably condemned the rejection of an IMF-approved bailout plan presented by the previous Lebanese government.

It said Lebanese legislators and political leaders rejected the plan as a result of “vested interests in preserving the interests of Lebanon’s banks”, and stalled a forensic audit of the Central Bank while its governor, Riad Salameh, is being investigated by France for money laundering.