Berri Stresses Strong Ties with Jumblat, Optimistic about Cabinet Lineup

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his optimism about the positive developments concerning the formation of the new cabinet, urging different parties to speed up the process.

The speaker’s visitors quoted him as saying that “if we continue moving in this manner, the government will be formed soon.”

In answering a question about those who are trying to create a rift between him and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, Berri said in his remarks published in An Nahar newspaper Friday: “Let them (March 14) continue trying” to do so.

An Nahar newspaper reported that the PSP leader asked Berri if “he needed anything” before heading to Syria to meet President Bashar Assad, hinting that Berri was informed earlier about Jumblat’s visit to Damascus on Thursday.

He challenged the March 14 forces to create a division between him and Jumblat.

Meanwhile, the speaker slammed Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea for his remarks that his attempt to hold parliamentary sessions was useless.

“Let Geagea wait and see,” Berri said.

He considered Geagea’s statements as a message to Premier-designate Najib Miqati to delay the formation of the cabinet and keep the country in the “deadly vacuum.”

Berri stressed that he “supports the Taef accord so far,” noting that the “Taef is neither the Quran nor the Bible.”