Aoun”s remarks take center stage as political rivals lash out at demands
Berri dismayed by tensions between FPM and Future Movement
The focus shifted Tuesday from the cabinet formation process to recent remarks made by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun concerning the future government. While figures from the March 14 Forces such as President Amin Gemayel lashed out at Aoun’s demands made a day earlier, the Future Movement parliamentary bloc of Premier- designate Saad Hariri meanwhile echoed more calm stances made by its head on Monday.
Quoting well-informed Lebanese diplomatic sources, the Central News Agency reported Tuesday that the cabinet formation process was “closely tied to a number of regional and international events.”
According to the sources, the birth of the government is tied to the outcomes of the ongoing US-Syria dialogue and the formation of the cabinet could also be tied to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s expected visit to Tehran this week.
The sources said that despite the political bickering between Aoun and Hariri there was still a chance the two could meet to “settle controversial issues.”
The squabble between the FPM and the Future Movement did not prompt any reaction from Speaker Nabih Berri, who seems to have abandoned his earlier optimism concerning the formation of a Cabinet.
But sources close to Berri said the speaker was “bothered” by the recent tensions between the Future Movement and the FPM.
Berri’s Monday visitors had quoted him as saying that Aoun and Hariri “ought to engage in dialogue immediately.”
The speaker added that tensions and accusations “would backfire on all groups and will only contribute to increasing the sufferings of the Lebanese.”
Berri held talks on Tuesday with US Ambassador Michele Sison at his residence in Ain al-Tineh. Sison refused to comment following the meeting
Following their weekly meeting headed by caretaker Premier Fouad Siniora Tuesday, the Future Movement bloc stressed in a statement the need for a return to “calm” dialogue, in a bid to protect civil peace and to make progress in the government formation process.
“The ongoing debate over the make-up has undermined essential principles in the Constitution, which the bloc considers as the real and sole guarantor for uniting the Lebanese especially with regard to the jurisdictions of the president and the premier-designate,” the Future Movement MPs said.
The bloc praised the position adopted by Hariri in light of “the imprudent political rhetoric” and stressed the significance of his “perseverance, resolve and adherence to the Constitution.”
It called on all political teams in Lebanon to “commit to a sophisticated and responsible dialogue and political rhetoric.”
On Monday, Aoun demanded that his Reform and Change bloc be allotted the Interior Ministry and that his son-in-law caretaker Minister Gebran Bassil keep the Telecommunication Ministry for another term.
In a swift response, Hariri’s press office issued a concise statement which stressed that the formation of a cabinet was, “according to the Constitution, the premier-designate’s responsibility in cooperation with President Michel Sleiman.”
Meanwhile, while opposition sources told the CNA that despite apparent tensions, talks concerning government formation “have reached new and positive ends,” sources close to the March 14 alliance described Aoun’s Monday stances as “a complete blow to the Lebanese political system.”
In related-news, Gemayel told reporters on Tuesday that Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s Friday speech and Aoun’s news conference on Monday were “actually complementary.”
Gemayel said that Nasrallah touched on Arab and regional issues throughout his speech while “totally ignoring President Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese Armed Forces and Lebanese institutions,” as if “the domestic issues are of no importance, and Lebanon has no role in taking decisions that would protect its sovereignty.”
He added that Aoun “made impossible conditions regarding cabinet formation, demonstrating he was in no rush to reactivate the state institutions.” He said Aoun “opts to intentionally block the president’s role by obstructing the mission of the government through which the president practices his power.”
“Lebanon and every Lebanese citizen pay the price of such statements and stances, and that is why we must imminently find a solution to the current political impasse; the country can no longer be paralyzed,” he said.