Aoun clings to Telecoms as cabinet talks re-start
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun on Wednesday warned in strong language his political foes against trying to take the Telecommunications Ministry away from his party, ahead of the resumption of stalemated cabinet-formation talks. Aoun had earlier tied his party’s participation in the cabinet to the re-appointment of his son-in-law, caretaker Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil, for a second term.
Following a meeting of the Reform and Change bloc at his residence in Rabieh, Aoun stressed that Premier-designate Saad Hariri’s call for rotating ministerial portfolios among political parties would necessitate that Hariri’s Future Movement give up the Finance Ministry. The Future Movement has many years controlled the state’s purse with its man atop the ministry, including years when caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora served as finance minister.
“If there is justice in rotating portfolios, no one would reject the principle; thus the Future Movement should give up the Finance Ministry, which it handled for 17 years while we were only assigned the Telecommunications Ministry for 10 months,” Aoun said.
Aoun also accused the parliamentary majority of hampering the cabinet’s formation during Hariri’s first stint as premier-designate, adding that March 14 had shifted the blame for failed talks onto his party. Aoun added that he was awaiting a proposal by Hariri regarding the cabinet’s formation.
“Five days of parliamentary deliberations is not a long period; thus there will be a decision afterward [by Hariri] either to form a cabinet or step down,” Aoun said.
Hariri will resume cabinet talks on Thursday with an unusually lengthy five days of parliamentary deliberations following his return on Wednesday from a vacation in Saudi Arabia.
“I will not give my opinion on the government’s shape until the submission of a proposal” by Hariri, Aoun added.
Following talks with Aoun, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said on Wednesday that Lebanon needed a functioning government because the country is slated to take up a rotating Security Council seat next year, while President Michel Sleiman is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Meanwhile, Siniora arrived in Saudi Arabia to represent Lebanon at the opening of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in the Thuwal region, about 90 kilometers north of Jeddah.
The opening was also surprisingly attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad, after media reports said earlier this week that Syria would delegate its ambassador in Saudi Arabia to participate in the event.
Media reports said Assad had rejected a Turkish proposal for a Syrian-Saudi-Turkish-Lebanese gathering at the KAUST opening ceremony during talks on Tuesday with Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
Williams conveyed UN concerns regarding the failure to reach an agreement over the next cabinet while he expressed hope that deliberations led by Hariri would end in success.
“Lebanon is expected to take over one of the rotating seats at the UN Security Council for the period 2010 to 2012; this is a very important role for Lebanon, which requires a fully functioning government that can follow up on many important international issues,” he said.
Williams emphasized that the delay in the cabinet-formation hindered important steps the cabinet must take in order to face social, economic and security challenges. The UN official also urged open dialogue among all parties to reach a solution as soon as possible.
Forming a government quickly “is possible if the Lebanese remain committed to a national-unity cabinet and work toward that objective,” he said.
Ahead of Sleiman’s expected speech before the UN General Assembly, the March 14 Secretariat General emphasized the need for Lebanon to adhere to the principles of the Arab Peace Initiative.
The initiative calls for an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied since 1967 and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland, in return for the recognition of Israel and the normalization of ties with Arab states.
Tackling the cabinet issue, the secretariat on Wednesday called on opposition forces to support a cabinet process based on the outcome of the June 7 elections. “We urge the opposition to commit to the Constitution and respect the outcome of the parliamentary elections, as well as to refrain from tying the president and the premier-designate to impossible conditions that would expose the Lebanese situation to regional threats and complications,” it said.
The secretariat also voiced support for the Lebanese Forces’ (LF) slogan “Living in the Cedar Revolution,” adopted to mark the anniversary of the Lebanese Resistance martyrs during a mass in Jounieh on Saturday. The statement also called on March 14 supporters to take part in the event.
LF leader Samir Geagea said on Wednesday that he would clarify his party’s stance on Saturday on the cabinet issue.
“Given the difficult circumstances that the country is going through, our opinion should be heard in a democratic and peaceful manner particularly, because three months have passed since the parliamentary elections without successfully forming a cabinet,” Geagea added.
Separately, Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem stressed on Wednesday that Lebanon could only be governed through consensus and partnership among its political factions, adding that forming the cabinet outside these norms would lead to the country’s downfall.
Hashem added that opposition forces helping the premier-designate to reach an agreement on a national-unity cabinet had been hampered by foreign obstacles, leading Hariri’s resignation.
Hariri stepped down after 73 days following his first appointment as premier-designate, accusing the opposition of hindering his efforts to form a cabinet before he was re-nominated last week.
Hashem’s ally, FPM caretaker Social Affairs Minister Mario Aoun, said – in response to a call by the LF to form a technocrat government – that such a proposition was illogical, adding that his party would hold open discussions with Hariri.
Aoun also stressed that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Jumblatt have been combining their efforts in order to form the government based on the 15-10-5 formula agreed upon prior to Hariri’s resignation.
Jumblatt and Berri, along with the speaker’s opposition allies in Hizbullah and the FPM, have expressed their commitment to the 15-10-5 formula.
Both leaders have been also mediating talks between opposition groups and Hariri to reach an agreement on the line-up.
However, several March 14 officials said it was up to the premier-designate to decide on the continued validity of the proposed structure, as deliberations on the cabinet would resume from scratch following Hariri’s re-nomination. The 15-10-5 structure grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and Sleiman gets five seats in Cabinet, guaranteeing him the deciding votes.