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The Maronite League – ML (Arabic: Al-Rabitat al-Maroun) or Ligue Maronite in French is a private, non-profit and ostensibly apolitical organization of Lebanese Christian maronite notables, dedicated mainly to defend the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon in the cadre of a democratic and pluralistic society. The President of the Maronite league is the highest maronite authority in Lebanon after the President of the republic and is legit to talk in the name of the maronites. The maronite league is also the political wing of Bkerke, the patriarchal authority in Lebanon. The current President of the Maronite league is the Former President of the Lebanese Bar Association, Lawyer Antoine Klimos, elected in March 2016 in Beirut.
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Composition
The League is often described as an exclusively Maronite “elitist group” whose membership was “automatic” for prominent figures in the public and private sector – Intellectuals, Businessmen, Bankers, Politicians (including former Heads of State, Members of Parliament, Government Ministers, and diplomats), Lawyers, Jurists, Public Servants, retired senior Army or Police officers, Presidents of Economic and Social Associations, Corporate Managers, and others.
Structure and organization
The Maronite League is run by a council of seventeen elected senior members, the Executive Board is headed by an elected President and vice president assisted by a general secretary and a treasurer chosen from elected members of the council.
Board meetings are held at the League's Headquarters, in the Central Council of the Maronite Societies Building located at Rue Medawar in Beirut.
Being a non-profit organization, its primary source of funding comes from annual membership fees paid by its affiliates as well as private donations.
List of ML presidents (1952-present)
Members of the executive council 2007-2013
Members of the executive council 2013-2016
Members of the executive council 2016-2019
History
First established on August 21, 1952 in Beirut by a group of Christian notables and intellectuals with Georges Tabet being elected as president in their first General Assembly, the Maronite League became more politicised towards the 1960s. While the League has strong ties with the Maronite Church, they also objected the presence of Palestinian refugees and the PLO in Lebanon.
Remaining active – mostly behind the scenes – throughout the civil war, the League encouraged a rapprochement policy and reconciliation between the different Christian parties and militias during the violent inter-Christian strifes of the late 1970s and late 1980s. Eventually, the ML emerged unscathed in the post-war years as a powerful pressure group with some 1000-1200 current members, which continues to promote Christian interests in Lebanon and abroad.
Its current President is Antoine Klimos, former President of the Beirut Bar Association.