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| - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian started a day of high-level meetings in Beirut Thursday aimed at ratcheting up the pressure on Lebanon's leaders to break the political deadlock. He met President Michel Aoun and was also expected to hold talks with parliament speaker Nabih Berri. "Firmness against those who are blocking the formation of a government: we have taken national measures and it's only the beginning," Le Drian said in a statement on social media. France announced last week that it had begun restricting access to French territory for Lebanese figures it did not name. Le Drian said at the time that further measures may be coordinated with other countries. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Lebanon several times last year in the aftermath of a deadly explosion at Beirut port that shocked the world and was widely blamed on government corruption and incompetence. He warned that international support for the country, whose economy is in tailspin, would hinge on far-reaching reform. Yet Lebanon's reviled political elite has failed to meet Macron's requests and has still not agreed on a new cabinet line-up, nine months after the government resigned. Le Drian is due to visit several health, education and heritage projets supported by France but is also scheduled to meet opposition groups. Most of the main opposition organisations, which have strived to unite their ranks against the ruling political class, were invited for a meeting with France's top diplomat. "It won't revolutionise the Lebanese political scene but it is a development," one senior opposition figure told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It's a sign of the limitations of the exclusive relationship the French administration had with the current ruling class," he said. "France and the international community are looking for new people to talk to, and the opposition is among them," he said. jmm/kir
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