The ministerial committee finalized the political section of the ministerial statement on Wednesday amid reservations by Ministers Boutros Harb and Salim al-Sayegh on the resistance article.
The committee concluded the platform after more than seven hours of discussions under PM Saad Hariri and is expected to document the statement Thursday at 1:30 pm in its 10th and final session.
The committee agreed to adopt the same clause approved by the previous cabinet over the resistance”s arms.
The Phalange Party and Lebanese Forces argue that Hizbullah”s arsenal undermines state authority and runs counter to U.N. resolutions.
"We cannot accept that there be another authority that has the power or competence to use coercion in Lebanon other than the state," Social Affairs Minister al-Sayegh, a member of the Phalange Party, told Agence France Presse.
"Any country cannot afford to have two authorities with two commands," he added. "There should be a monopoly of the state on all issues related to security and weapons."
An Nahar daily said Thursday that both Harb and al-Sayegh expressed reservations on article 6 which deals with the resistance. The newspaper reported that the article on the state was accepted by all committee members.
The conferees introduced a new section on the government”s priorities under the headline of "The priorities of the People … The Priorities of the Cabinet."
An Nahar quoted ministerial sources as saying that for the first time, the committee discussed 13-14 priorities, a sign that the cabinet "will put all conflicting issues aside and focus on the people”s concerns such as electricity and water."