Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated the need to speed up the cabinet formation process and said “it wasn’t acceptable to waste more time anymore.”

In remarks to An Nahar and As Safir dailies published Wednesday, Berri called for dealing with the daily problems of the Lebanese, including social and economic issues, away from the political bickering.

Spanish Ambassador Juan Carlos Gafo expected the Lebanese government to be formed soon and stressed his country’s support for the course of justice in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Tuesday, Gafo said that Premier-designate Najib Miqati told him that the cabinet would be formed a few days after the rally at Martyrs Square on March 13.

The optimism about the possibility of forming the government this week began fading after media reports said that Lebanese leaders haven’t yet reached an agreement on the distribution of portfolios.

“The most complex obstacle impeding the formation of the cabinet until now is the interior ministry portfolio which requires further consultations and contacts,” a source following Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s efforts to form the government told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri didn’t comment on the rally held by the March 14 forces at Beirut’s Martyrs Square on Sunday, except for saying “the scenes were enough, no comment.”

In remarks to An Nahar newspaper on Monday, Berri also called for “speeding up the formation of the government because it is the response that all the Lebanese are awaiting for.”

House Speaker Nabih Berri demanded on Friday an immediate recognition by all Arab governments of the Libyan rebel National Council.

He said in a letter to the head of the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union Mohammed bin Mubarak al-Khulaifi: “Immediate calls should be made to all Arab governments for the immediate recognition of the council which represents the popular revolution and the people’s resistance to the barbarism of the Gadhafi regime.”

The March 14 alliance’s campaign against Hizbullah’s arms is expected to push for the quick formation of the new government, An Nahar newspaper reported Thursday.

The daily quoted Speaker Nabih Berri’s advisor MP Ali Hassan Khalil as saying that “the appropriate answer to the slogans launched by the March 14 team is to speed up the government formation process.”

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized the March 14 forces on Wednesday for lamenting their loss of power in the government, saying their campaign against Hizbullah’s arms contradicted with national principles.

In his weekly meeting with lawmakers at the parliament building, Berri reportedly stressed the need to form the government as soon as possible in order to face future challenges and solve problems such as shortage of water and power rationing.

Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel filed a complaint against the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad over his latest press conference from parliament during which a poster supporting the March 8 camp’s positions was displayed behind him.

The complaint was filed to Speaker Nabih Berri on the basis that the “poster tarnished parliament’s image by attributing positions to it that it did not make.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed Tuesday that "there is no alternative to the State and its institutions."

"We shall struggle with all our strength for the success of the project of the State whatever the challenges and difficulties might be because there is no alternative to the State and its institutions, and we will spare no effort in this regard," Hariri said during a meeting at the Center House with Mustaqbal Movement delegations and Beiruti families.

Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that the country’s defense strategy was settled in the policy statement of Caretaker PM Saad Hariri’s cabinet when it stressed the army-people-resistance formula.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Tuesday, Berri said the formula remains unchanged despite Hariri’s rejection to support it.