Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday denied that he was behind the delay in forming the new cabinet, accusing President Michel Suleiman of “crippling governance and state institutions.”

Briefing reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, Aoun said that “whatever the shape of the new cabinet may be, it remains the cabinet of the new majority.”

President Michel Suleiman has reportedly ruled out the formation of the cabinet anytime soon, saying that Lebanon has missed investment opportunities over the deadlock.

“Lebanon is missing big economic and investment opportunities over the continued impasse in the formation of the government, particularly at a time of security shakeups in Arab countries,” Suleiman’s visitors quoted him as saying.

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun continued over the weekend to hold onto his demands for 12 ministries, including the interior ministry portfolio, in a 30-member cabinet, Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s circles told An Nahar daily in remarks published Sunday.

Aoun’s demands have further delayed the formation of the government, the circles said.

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Saturday the attack on the Lebanese Embassy in Libya and the burning of the Lebanese flag.

He said: "It is a blatant attack on Lebanon's sovereignty."

The political consultations over the government formation have entered a “truce” after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s departure for Dubai on Friday, said a source monitoring the government formation process.

The consultations will resume as soon as Aoun returns from his trip, revealing that the meeting between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, Hizbullah official al-Hajj Hussein al-Khalil, Speaker Nabih Berri’s advisor MP Ali Hasan Khalil, and caretaker minister Jebran Bassil on Thursday led to an agreement over methods to end the deadlock over the government formation.

President Michel Suleiman congratulated on Friday the Lebanese army for uncovering the Israeli spy system in the southern town of Shamaa on Thursday.

He said: “The discovery once again exposes Israel’s ongoing violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and Lebanon’s sovereignty before the international community.”

A meeting between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and representatives of the March 8 alliance’s leaders did not make major progress on resolving the cabinet formation deadlock, media reports said Friday.

Miqati met on Thursday with the Free Patriotic Movement leader’s envoy, Caretaker Minister Jebran Bassil, and the assistants of the Hizbullah leader and the speaker, respectively Hussein Khalil and MP Ali Hassan Khalil.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati will launch intense consultations with Lebanese officials on Thursday in an effort to break the impasse on the cabinet formation process, An Nahar daily said.

The newspaper said that talks between Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday paved way for a series of meetings that the premier-designate is scheduled to hold with officials involved in the formation of the government.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez has said that Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s government would remain committed to Lebanon’s international obligations.

“My meeting with Miqati was fruitful … He wants to form (the cabinet) in a few days but he is seeking to include in it all forces and the biggest number of political factions in Lebanon,” Jimenez said during a press conference at Bustros Palace on Wednesday night.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez arrived in Beirut Wednesday afternoon from Amman as part of a tour of the region.

She said upon her arrival: “Spain has and still supports the peace process in the region.”