07 October 2009

BEIRUT: The French president’s top adviser Henry Guaino expressed on Tuesday France’s readiness to mediate efforts between Lebanese political parties in order to resolve the cabinet-formation crisis.

“The government-formation crisis would be solved as soon as possible with France’s assistance through building bridges of trust with all parties because we want to be a factor that encourages dialogue and mediate efforts between opposing groups,” Guaino said.

Following a three-day visit to Lebanon during which he held talks with Lebanese top officials, Guaino told reporters at the airport that the government formation was a domestic and regional issue, while stressing the impact of the Syrian-Saudi summit on the Middle East peace process.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz is expected to arrive in Syria on Wednesday to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad; the talks would tackle Lebanon governmental crisis among other regional issues.

“The cabinet issue is a Lebanese responsibility; Lebanon needs democracy but also national-unity,” Guaino said, a reference to calls by Lebanese parties to form a national-unity cabinet rather than a majority one.

Guaino added that the government formation deadlock did not signal a regime crisis.

“I am not an expert in the Lebanese situation but I do not believe the issue reached the point of a regime crisis,” Guaino said.

Tackling Lebanon’s role as part of the international community, Guaino stressed the necessity to form a government soon in order to enable Lebanon to play a role on the international scene.

Lebanon is expected to be elected to take a rotating seat in the UN Security Council for the next two years.

Guaino also expressed France’s readiness to support Lebanon’s role in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

Meanwhile, doubt was cast regarding any progress on the cabinet-formation front as Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea downplayed the positive impact of the Syrian-Saudi summit while the Future Movement urged all parties to make compromises to facilitate the process.

Contradicting Geagea, Hizbullah officials reiterated their optimism saying that deliberations led by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri moved on to tackle the distribution of ministerial portfolios.

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf Moussawi expressed on Tuesday optimism regarding the cabinet-formation process as he stressed that current deliberations between Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun tackled the distribution of ministerial portfolios.

Moussawi emphasized that the improvement in Syrian-Saudi ties positively impacts the government formation while the US interference still hinders the process.

Conversely, Geagea played down the odds regarding the formation of a national-unity cabinet anytime soon as he accused the parliamentary minority of hampering the process by imposing conditions that are impossible to meet.

“I do not believe that the odds of forming a cabinet are high because premier-designate Saad Hariri insists on a national-unity [cabinet] while the opposition holds on to a set of conditions and demands that cannot be carried by any government,” Geagea told Reuters.

Geagea called on President Michel Sleiman to sign a cabinet-formation decree based on any government line-up proposal to be submitted by Hariri if negotiations with opposition groups hit a dead end.

“If no serious breakthrough concerning the formation of a consensus cabinet surfaces in a week or 10 days, we hope the president uses his pen in order not to leave the country without a government,” Geagea added.

Geagea underlined that the opposition attempts to mislead the public into believing that they supported the prompt formation of cabinet, adding that there was no need to wait, if the improvement in inter-Arab ties does not positively influence the formation process.

“The Syrian-Saudi summit should positively influence the regional situation but I doubt that the positive atmosphere would help enough to reach an agreement on the cabinet-formation,” Geagea added.

Meanwhile, the Future Movement bloc urged on Tuesday all political parties to make compromises in order to facilitate the cabinet formation as to serve Lebanon’s best interests.

“The Lebanese parties’ only option is to show flexibility in their positions and put the nation’s interests above any individual ones as to allow the premier-designate to form the cabinet as soon as possible,” the statement said, following the bloc’s weekly meeting headed by caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The statement also praised the international and Arab efforts to support Lebanon and preserve its stability, adding that the country would benefit from improvements in inter-Arab ties.

 

Community Comments (0) - Comment on this article

The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.

 

 

 

close x

Loading ...

 

close x

Report Abuse

Loading ...

 

 

close x

Loading ...