Miqati Rejects Cabinet to be ‘Underestimated,’ Links Resumption of Sessions to Pledge of Productive Work
Premier Najib Miqati confirmed that there were no mediation efforts to resolve the government crisis that erupted after the cabinet sessions were suspended over a dispute between the PM and ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.
“There are no contacts and no mediations to resolve the current crisis,” Miqati told An Nahar daily published Saturday.
He reiterated that he would call for cabinet sessions only if the ministers agree to hold productive meetings. “Why would we spend 12 hours weekly sitting at the cabinet table if we won’t be productive and if none of the Change and Reform bloc ministers was satisfied?” he wondered.
Miqati slammed Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas for refusing to sign the decree on the controversial transportation allowance linked to the latest wage hike.
He also criticized Energy Minister Jebran Bassil for accusing the government of obstructing the implementation of his $1.2 billion electricity project and lashed out at Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud for saying that the government’s tourism decisions are only “ink on paper.”
The three ministers are part of Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc.
“I am not ready to accept any underestimation of the council of ministers as an institution,” Miqati said. “We should either meet and take decisions and respect them or else what’s the use.”
Asked how he believed the crisis could be solved, Miqati said: “When I find a serious pledge that the cabinet will resume productive work and its decisions would be respected, then things could go back to normal.”
Sources close to the premier told As Safir newspaper that the ball is in the court of the Change and Reform bloc ministers. “The solution is not through sedatives but through a radical solution.”
In other remarks published in al-Liwaa daily, the sources defended Miqati’s decision to suspend cabinet sessions, saying “it is necessary for the PM to resort to any step that he sees essential to bring things back to normal after government sessions have become wrestling arenas.”
Snapping back at critics that described Miqati’s decision as an unprecedented move, they said in reference to Nahhas that the rejection of the implementation of the transportation allowance was unprecedented.
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