Government Formation Back to Square One, Al-Rahi Suggests Issuing Call to Speed up Formation
Hopes that a new government will be formed soon have disappeared in light of the recent contacts and meetings regarding the formation, reported the daily An Nahar Friday.
It appears that matters have returned to square one, especially given the fragile trust between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi even suggested issuing a call to speed up the government formation, which will be made later on Friday.
He made his position during a meeting with a Lebanese political delegation as part of his ongoing visit to the Vatican.
An Nahar reported that Miqati’s announcement from Baabda on Thursday that he will be giving himself more time to form the government has not “sat well” with some of his allies in the new majority, especially Aoun and Hizbullah to some extent given that the four meetings held between Speaker Nabih Berri’s advisor MP Ali Hassan Khalil, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s advisor Hussein Khalil, and Aoun had failed to achieved any progress.
Furthermore, the daily said that Miqati and the mediators’ suggestion to grant President Michel Suleiman, the premier-designate, and PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat 11 ministers while the March 8 camp would be granted 19 was met with Aoun’s rejection, who is insistent on acquiring 10 portfolios, including the Interior Ministry.
A leading figure in the March 8 camp told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat daily in rearks published Friday that Miqati made a mistake when he announced that he had given himself more time to form a new government seeing as the constitution does not impose a deadline in the formation process.
He instead interpreted the announcement as an attempt to grant his allies and those who backed his appointment as prime minister more time, otherwise he would resort to forming a technocratic government.
“Miqati took this position to counter the pressure his allies had imposed on him,” he added.
Meanwhile, President Michel Suleiman’s visitors told As Safir in remarks published on Friday that he is insistent on maintaining the Interior Ministry portfolio and its minister Ziad Baroud.
He justified his choice by saying that Baroud succeeded in building trust with the Lebanese people.
Suleiman added the minister should not be held accountable for the flaws and shortcomings in the ministry, stating that they are the products of the current political situation in Lebanon.
Furthermore, he said that it’s normal that the Interior and Defense Ministries remain under the president’s authority seeing as he is the high commander of the country’s armed forces.
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