Wadephul announces German-French initiative for Lebanon

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has announced a German-French initiative on Lebanon, saying it aims to increase the chances of peace in the Middle East. 

"We want to formulate a joint policy on Lebanon with France in order to increase the chance of peace in the Middle East," the politician told Tagesspiegel ahead of the German-French ministerial council next week. He did not give details. The interview was made available to dpa.

At the same time, the minister announced further joint initiatives with France. The two countries want to make Europe more capable of acting in foreign policy and, among other things, resolve the "confusion over competences" in EU foreign policy.

Wadephul also called for a new push for negotiations in the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

"We should now make a very serious attempt to settle both conflicts," he said. Neither conflict would be decided on the battlefield "but at the negotiating table - the sooner, the better for people."

The recent escalation in violence need not rule out negotiations. There is "the military phenomenon of a last surge before entering into negotiations," Wadephul said.

"I could well imagine that we are experiencing something like that right now because the most recent attacks by Russia and Iran in terms of timing around the NATO summit were certainly no coincidence and were meant to demonstrate supposed strength."

He said he had "well-founded hope" in both conflicts that there was a chance to move towards a solution.