Cabinet talks to intensify as Berri offers options
Contacts are expected to intensify in the next 48 hours to speed up government formation, which has been stalled for the past five months. President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Premier-designate Saad Hariri are expected to hold a meeting at Baabda Place on Wednesday to deliberate over the cabinet, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported Tuesday.
The CNA quoted well-informed sources close to discussions as saying that Berri will present a “series of government formulas” likely to break the impasse.
But politicians and media reports alike suggested that the Telecommunications Ministry still remained as the “biggest obstacle” facing the formation of a national unity government.
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun has demanded to keep the portfolio as part of his share in the next cabinet. Hariri and the parliamentary majority have disputed the demand.
The Telecommunications Ministry has been the subject of much debate between the majority and the opposition, given its significant role in funding the state’s treasury, as well as its pivotal importance with regard to security issues related to monitoring phone calls.
Well-informed sources from the opposition denied on Tuesday the possibility of a “swift” formation of the government, adding that regional conditions were “not ripe enough.”
Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh, however, expressed on Tuesday his optimism toward the cabinet formation “given the good intentions demonstrated by the various political parties.”
After talks with President Sleiman in Baabada, Franjieh said that the negotiations were close to “achieving something.”
Franjieh stressed that the opposition refused to see the cabinet formation result in Hariri appearing “weak or defeated,” but added: “we also don’t accept that the cabinet is formed at the expense of the FPM.”
“Everyone should make concessions so that things evolve,” Franjieh said.
Earlier this week, An-Nahar newspaper reported that Franjieh was getting ready to play a key role in helping to facilitate the formation of a government, particularly after having received a phone call from Syrian President Bashar Assad urging him to encourage making a cabinet lineup possible.
Franjieh was expected to persuade Aoun to show greater flexibility on ending the government impasse, according to the daily.
Meanwhile, government formation was discussed during a late night meeting between the premiere-designate and Hussein Khalil, the political aide to Hizbullah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Sources from the FPM said Tuesday that Aoun requested the Justice portfolio in exchange for the Telecommunications one, and Labor in exchange of Energy.
Also on Tuesday, Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said he was determined to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty “despite the perpetual attempts to disrupt Lebanon’s image in the region.”
Gemayel accused certain Lebanese groups of “harming the domestic politics by helping to maintain the cabinet void.”
He also warned against attempts to “take over legal institutions and sovereign decision making.”
Gemayel said all political parties should request their rights within the framework of the democratic system, adding that the impasse was “related to external factors” that intervene in domestic affairs “at the expense of national interest.”
The Future Movement parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for support for Hariri to form a new government as soon as possible “in light of the dangers facing Lebanon and the region.”
The bloc, which met under caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, urged various political parties to help facilitate a cabinet lineup.