BEIRUT: Laurent Fabius, the former French Socialist prime minister, vowed Friday that the long-standing tradition of Franco-Lebanese friendship would remain firm “no matter what government is in place” after the French presidential election scheduled for April.

Campaigning on behalf of French Socialist presidential hopeful Francois Hollande in Beirut, Fabius said Hollande and the international community should protect Lebanese territorial borders, sovereignty and unity, while also commenting on the changes under way in the region in the wake of a series of popular upheavals.

“The friendship between France and Lebanon is an old tradition, no matter what government is currently in place,” Fabius told reporters at Le Gabriel Hotel Ashrafieh.

There are currently 21,000 French citizens registered in Lebanon, 90 percent of whom are dual French-Lebanese citizens, Rita Maalouf, Hollande’s delegate for presidential election in Lebanon, told The Daily Star.

Around 14,000 of them are registered to vote in the polls, she said.

Fabius noted France and Lebanon’s long history of economic and cultural ties, saying their joint history should be “continuously enriched.”

He referred to specific issues such as providing aid in the form of educational scholarships, and said that French politicians were fully aware that the Lebanese middle class was facing financial difficulties.

Fabius argued that Hollande, if elected, would seek to implement reforms that could potentially assist Lebanese in areas such as retirement benefits, without elaborating further.

Responding to questions about France’s policies in its former Mandate country, Fabius said Hollande, if elected, would not change Paris’ approach to Lebanon.

However, he noted that “it is hard to please all the Lebanese sides ... some ... could still be disappointed at times,” while insisting that France “will always work for international law and human rights.”

Addressing the political crisis in neighboring Syria, Fabius echoed his country’s condemnation of President Bashar Assad for his government’s crackdown on a popular uprising that erupted in March last year.

But he said Paris would not give its support to military intervention in Syria, favoring instead a solution to the crisis via the U.N. Security Council to “stop the massacre.”

“It is impossible to accept Assad’s behavior,” Fabius said, noting that thousands of people have lost their lives in the conflict. “The trail of death must be stopped.”

Asked for his opinion about Lebanon’s policy of distancing itself from the Syria conflict, Fabius called the country’s stance “understandable,” given Lebanon’s geographic proximity to Syria.

Lebanon has adopted an official position of “disassociating itself” from the Syrian crisis, given the sharp divisions between Lebanese politicians who are either strong supporters or fierce critics of the Syrian regime.

“Lebanon cannot take the same stance as France,” he said.

Fabius praised the work of the U.N. Higher Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon, whose officials he met with earlier in the day, and the Lebanese authorities for their efforts in providing assistance to Syrian refugees, who have gathered mainly in north Lebanon.

He noted that 6,000 Syrian refugees had already been registered in the country, and urged continued efforts to accommodate those fleeing the unrest.

As for the wider phenomenon of Arab popular uprisings, Fabius noted the similarities and differences among the countries affected, but quipped that grappling with the situation was like “trying to solve the universe and other problems.”

Fabius said the common denominator in the regional upheaval involved a popular movement in the direction of “freedom and democracy ... to fight dictatorship and corruption.”

But, he added, considerable work needed to be done to ensure a democratic election process in countries with very different political experiences.

He cautioned that holding free elections did not constitute a solution, since an electoral process should be accompanied by constitutionally-guaranteed rights for women and minorities, and media freedoms. He likened the current situation to post-revolutionary France, predicting that considerable time will be needed for conditions to improve.

During his visit, Fabius met with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt.

The former French premier said he appreciated the efforts of Mikati to finance the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.