Libya’s rival factions have agreed on Tuesday in Paris to commit to a declaration that would be translated into a political framework that includes the holding of the general elections towards the end of this year. During a meeting hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, in the presence of representatives of 20 states and regional and international organizations, Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Marshall Khalifa Haftar, the head of Parliament in Tobruk Aguila Saleh and the president of the State Council Khalid al-Mishri have declared their commitment to hold presidential and legislative elections on December 10. Once again, the initiative came from Paris, specifically from Macron, who met separately with the four Libyan leaders, before the general session that ended with a “Political Declaration on Libya”, read in Arabic. However, the declaration did not bear the signatures of the parties concerned. Macron later cited two reasons for this: first, the desire of the four parties to return to their bases before signing a written text, and the second is due to the difficult relations between the rival parties, as they don’t recognize one another’s authority. To overcome this impasse, diplomats shaped a “new” solution. Macron asked the four leaders after reading the declaration to express their commitment to it verbally, and they did not hesitate to give their consent. The French president commented: “So we are working on this common ground. Well done." Macron also asked regional and international participants whether they supported the Libyans’ conclusions, and the answer was yes. In a joint news conference with Sarraj and UN Special Envoy Ghassan Salame, Macron described the meeting as historic for two reasons, as it was the first time the four leaders met together, and due to the strong presence of regional and international participants, including the five permanent members of the Security Council and the European and African Unions. “The parties have committed to set the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the necessary electoral laws by September 16, 2018 and hold Parliamentary and Presidential elections on December 10, 2018,” the statement said. The parties also agreed that by September 16 they would establish the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the necessary electoral laws.