HARIRI TO HOLD ANOTHER ROUND OF FPM NEGOTIATIONS
Elias Sakr
Daily Star
Lebanon
September 29, 2009
BEIRUT: No progress was made on cabinet formation front on Monday,
as opposition and majority groups clung to their stances as
Premier-designate Saad Hariri resumed his deliberations with
parliamentary blocs.
As part of his efforts to break the cabinet deadlock, Hariri is
expected to hold another round of deliberations with a delegation of
the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) headed by MP Michel Aoun on Thursday
as well as the Lebanese Forces (LF) and the Phalange Party.
Hariri met at Parliament on Monday with the Armenian Tashnaq party
bloc, al-Jamaa al-Islamyia MP Imad Hout and independent MP Boutros
Harb.
After the meeting, the Tashnaq party stressed its support for Hariri as
well as the necessity to form a national-unity cabinet that guarantees
partnership given the upcoming challenges.
Meanwhile, opposition parties including Hizbullah and Amal Movement
reiterated their support for the resumption of negotiations over the
cabinet based on the 15-10-5 formula.
Conversely, the LF stressed Monday that the legitimacy of any cabinet
should be evaluated according to the Constitution, a reference
to Hizbullah’s criticism of LF head Samir Geagea’s call to form a
majority cabinet.
Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc chief MP Mohammad Raad stressed
on Monday that the foundations of a national-unity cabinet were in
place and awaited the premier-designate to coordinate the distribution
of portfolios and candidates.
"The fundamentals of a national-unity cabinet are available and
only lack the premier-designate’s will to creatively manage the
distribution of portfolios and names to bring to light a government
that would save Lebanon ahead of upcoming challenges," Raad said.
Raad reiterated his party’s support for the 15-10-5 formula, adding
that given the current domestic challenges and the ongoing Israeli
threats, the structure was the best to guarantee national Amal Movement
MP Ali Hassan Khalil called on Monday to form a national unity cabinet
based on the 15-10-5 formula, adding that Lebanon should seize the
opportunity that emerged as a result of Syrian-Saudi rapprochement.
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Monday that Saudi King
Abdullah bin Abdel -Aziz received on Sunday an undisclosed invitation
from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The agency added that Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal
delivered the message to Saudi Information and Culture Minister
Abdel-Aziz Khoja.
"The recent inter Arab contacts created a new dynamic; we should
seize the opportunity… and take responsibility for the cabinet’s
formation rather than toss the burden on foreign powers with regard
to details linked to the distribution of portfolios," Khalil said.
Khalil praised President Michel Sleiman’s insistence to form a
national-unity cabinet while he slammed statements by certain political
groups contradicting the principles of partnership and coexistence.
Also, Liberation and Development bloc MP Ali Bazzi said Assad’s
visit to Saudi Arabia had a positive impact on inter-Arab ties,
which reflected positively on Lebanon and the region.
"However, this positive atmosphere does not liberate the Lebanese from
their responsibility to work in order to re-establish warm relations
among each other," Bazzi added.
Echoing Geagea, Parliament Deputy Speaker and Future Movement MP Farid
Makari called on Sleiman and Hariri to from a cabinet in accordance
with constitutional norms if negotiations to reach an agreement over
a national-unity government failed.
In a speech on Saturday, Geagea urged Hariri and the president to
form a majority cabinet if the opposition does not relinquish its
conditions concerning the government.
"The time has come to reach a conclusion; if it turns out that we
would hit a deadlock and another round of stalled deliberations,
then the premier-designate along with the president should form a
cabinet in accordance with constitutional n rom being a hostage to
obstruction," Makari said.
In response to Hizbullah’s criticism, LF MP Antoine Zahra stressed on
Monday that the legitimacy of any government or power in Lebanon should
be evaluated based the Constitution and the implementation of its laws.
"Geagea’s statement was an attempt to prevent the ongoing provoked
series of crisis for five consecutive years including the obstruction
of presidential elections and the cabinet’s formation which threatens
to abolish the Constitution and thus Lebanon’s presence and entity,"
Zahra added.
LF ally the Phalange Party expressed hope on Monday that the minority
transform its talk about the positive atmosphere with regard to the
cabinet formation into deeds so as to facilitate the process. Following
a meeting of the party’s politburo, the Phalange issued a statement
calling on Hariri to form a cabinet that reflects the outcome of the
June 7 elections and the Phalange’s true representational size.
The statement also denied that the Phalange bloc tackled during talks
with Hariri the expected portfolios to be allotted to the party or
the candidates to be nominated.
In other news, the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit said
in remarks published in Ash-Sharq al-Awsat on Monday that his country
supported the designation of Hariri for the post of premier-designate
while denying claims saying otherwise.
"Claims that Egypt does not want Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
to form a cabinet in Lebanon are inaccurate," Abu al-Gheit said, adding
that "we expressed back then our belief that he would face obstacles."
Abu al-Gheit added that foreign obstacles hampered the formation of the
government as he stressed that Saudi Arabia plays a very supportive
role while Egypt was keen to see a government formed as soon as
possible. The Egyptian foreign minister hinted to a significant
Iranian influence in Lebanon, adding that Syria has also historic
and strategic interests in Lebanon.
Lebanese regime ‘on its deathbed’ says ian paper
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s political regime in its current shape is no longer
viable, the Syrian state-run newspaper Tishrin reported in remarks
published on Monday.
The paper added that the Lebanese regime was on its "deathbed" and
needed radical changes to revive it.
"How can we claim that a sectarian regime is a democratic one,
if loyalty to religions exceeded loyalty to the nation; thus the
country faces a regime crisis rather than a government crisis,"
the report said. – The Daily Star