Speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly planning to launch a new initiative to bring the viewpoints of Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun closer.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Berri is working away from the media spotlight to solve the dispute between the two officials.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the current situation will not crush efforts to form the new government saying no one will “surrender” to the obstacles facing the cabinet formation.

“The efforts are still ongoing and the necessity requires us to reach the desired results,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has stressed that he would not form a government of “cantons” or grant portfolios to political parties in order to turn them into “feudal” entities.

“I told everyone without exception and not only the general (Michel Aoun) as is being rumored, to give me lists of portfolios that they are seeking and lists of names that they suggest so that I would distribute the portfolios on the names in accordance with my authorities and the authorities of the president,” Miqati was quoted as saying by al-Akhbar daily on Tuesday.

French Senate deputy leader Jean-Pierre Raffarin stressed on Monday the autonomy of the Lebanese government, stressing that France respects Lebanon’s sovereignty.

He hoped after holding talks with President Michel Suleiman that the Lebanese government would be formed soon in order to resume cooperation between the country’s various ministries.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams stressed on Monday the need to form a new government as there are many problems in Lebanon that need to be addressed.

He said after holding talks with President Michel Suleiman: “There are many problems before Lebanon, problems of economy, problems of security and these problems are growing by the day.”

A dispute between the March 8 and 14 forces over the legitimacy of holding a parliamentary session during the absence of the cabinet renewed on Monday over fears that Speaker Nabih Berri will go ahead with his plan.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc member MP Atef Majdalani said that such a session will not be the solution to resolve people’s problems.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati is expected to launch in the next few days a new round of consultations aimed at forming the new government in coordination with Speaker Nabih Berri, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and Hizbullah.

March 8 sources told An Nahar newspaper on Monday that Miqati would play an essential role in reviving the consultations that reached a standstill last week over allegedly growing demands by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Speaker Nabih Berri slammed what he called the blatant meddling of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman in Lebanon’s internal affairs.

In remarks to As Safir daily on Monday, Berri stressed that he took the right decision not to hold talks with Feltman after he read the statement issued over the diplomat’s visit to Beirut on Friday.

The March 8 forces have expressed pessimism at solving the cabinet deadlock soon, saying contacts between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and the different parties of the March 8 forces have been in a standstill since last Wednesday.

The circles of the new parliamentary majority told An Nahar daily published Sunday that although Miqati stayed in touch with Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement, the different sides are not expected to meet with the premier-designate next week.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati held talks with top Lebanese official away from the media spotlight over the weekend in a bid to end the impasse which he claims is the result of lingering by the different parties of the March 8 forces to provide him with the names they suggest for the portfolios that are part of their shares in the new cabinet.

Sources following Miqati’s consultations told An Nahar daily in remarks published Sunday that the premier-designate was still waiting for the list of names that the new parliamentary majority should suggest to him in accordance with the constitution.