Presidency: No link between elections, Aoun's remarks on refugees

The Presidency denied Friday the presence of a link between the parliamentary elections and President Michel Aoun’s latest remarks on Syrian refugees.

“The media reports published today about the presence of a link between President Michel Aoun’s tackling of the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the file of parliamentary elections are baseless,” the Presidency said in a statement.

“These conclusions are unfounded, because the issue of the refugees’ return to their country has never been absent from the President’s stances, and it was raised again in a meeting held yesterday at the Baabda Palace with the ministerial delegation taking part in a conference in Brussels on May 9 and 10,” the Presidency added.

Noting that the conference will discuss “the future of Syrian refugees” in Lebanon, the Presidency added that the delegation will put the conferees in Brussels in the picture of the official Lebanese stance.