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BEIRUT: Amid a deepening Cabinet crisis that has defied local and regional mediation efforts, attention has shifted to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri who is gearing up to push with a proposal calling for the formation of a 24-member Cabinet of nonpartisan specialists with no veto power to any side, a political source said Wednesday.
Speaker Berri is waiting for Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariris return to Beirut to begin consultations on the 24-member Cabinet proposal as a solution to the crisis, the source familiar with the Cabinet formation process told The Daily Star.
The main problem hindering the government formation is the naming of Christian ministers, the source said, adding that Berri was preparing to suggest a compromise between President Michel Aoun and Hariri to solve this problem.
Hariri, who is currently on a private visit to Abu Dhabi, was expected to return to Beirut later this week.
Berri was reported to have warned of the worst to come in Lebanon, which is reeling from its worst economic and financial crisis in decades, if a new government was not formed within two weeks.
So far, neither Aoun, nor Hariri, whose deepening rift for more than eight months has left Lebanon without a fully empowered government to tackle a series of crises, including an unprecedented financial downturn that is threatening the Lebanese with poverty and hunger, has commented on Berris proposal. The proposal divides the suggested 24 ministers into three groups with no veto power to any side: Eight ministers to Aoun, eight ministers to Hariri, and eight ministers to Berris Amal Movement, Hezbollah and their allies.
Berris proposal was initially floated by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt during a meeting with Aoun last month.
Berri was reported to be coordinating his efforts to break the monthslong Cabinet impasse with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai who, in his Sundays sermon, called on Hariri to present Aoun with an updated Cabinet lineup made up of nonpartisan specialists with no veto power to any side. Aoun has rejected Hariris first draft Cabinet lineup on Dec. 9, arguing that the proposed list did not preserve national balance.
Efforts are serious to reach a government within two weeks after Speaker Nabih Berris intervention, MP Mario Aoun from the Free Patriotic Movements parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc, said in a local radio interview Wednesday.
He said that the main hurdle blocking the formation of a new government was the naming of two Christian ministers.
If all of the names [of ministers] proposed in the lineup are specialists, there is no objection to them. The Free Patriotic Movement is open to solutions for the benefit of the nations interest and keeps aside personal interests, Aoun said.
In the absence of any other solution, Aoun said he expected Berris intervention to achieve a breakthrough in the crisis.
Hariri, who has accused the president and his son-in-law, MP Gebran Bassil, head of the FPM, of blocking the government formation with their insistence on a blocking one-third [veto power], has vowed not to grant veto power to any party in the new government.
The same political source said Hezbollah was expected to help Berri in his efforts to resolve the Cabinet crisis by interceding with Aoun to soften his position.
In a televised speech Tuesday night on the 21st anniversary of Israels withdrawal from south Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah underlined the need for Aoun and Hariri to cooperate and reach an understanding on the formation of a new government.
Dismissing calls by some politicians for Aoun to step down as part of outbiddings that will lead nowhere, Nasrallah said: We hope that the premier-designates mission will be facilitated. Let the premier-designate present the president with a Cabinet lineup. Like Berri who ruled out external factors behind delaying the Cabinet formation, Nasrallah said the problem was purely internal.
Addressing Aoun and Hariri, he said: The country is a trust with you. He called on the two leaders, if they failed to agree on a new government, to seek help from Berri in resolving the Cabinet formation crisis.
"The only friend who is capable of offering help is Speaker Nabih Berri because of his status as Parliament speaker and his political experience," Nasrallah said. We in Hezbollah are always ready to help. I call on all [parties] to help to rescue the country.
Berri Monday pleaded with Aoun and Hariri to act quickly before its too late to form a government of nonpartisan specialists with no veto power granted to any side as the only way to rescue the country from all-out economic collapse.
Declaring that the Cabinet formation crisis was 100 percent internal and personal, Berri urged in a speech the two leaders to drop any preconditions and eliminate personal hurdles that are preventing the formation of a new government to implement urgent reforms outlined in the French initiative designed to steer Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crunch since the 1975-90 Civil War.
Berris plea comes as the fate of a new government appeared Sunday up in the air as tensions mounted between Aoun and Hariri after the premier-designate accused the president of deliberately blocking the Cabinet formation and seeking to remove him and change the Constitution.
Hariris tough speech in Parliament Saturday in response to Aouns letter to the legislature over the obstacles hindering the formation of a new government underscored long-simmering tensions and a deepening crisis of confidence between the two leaders, dashing hopes for any imminent breakthrough in the Cabinet formation crisis.
Aoun and Berri are waiting to see how Hariri would react after Parliament, which met last week to read and discuss the presidents letter in which he accused Hariri of stalling on the Cabinet formation, called on the premier-designate to press ahead with his attempts to quickly form a new government, in what appeared to be a rebuff to the presidents bid to revoke Hariris designation.
Aoun and Hariri have refused to budge on their conflicting positions on the Cabinet issue. They remain at odds over the distribution of key ministerial seats, namely the Justice and Interior ministries, and the naming of Christian ministers. The two leaders have not been on speaking terms for more than two months since their last meeting at Baabda Palace on March 22 that failed to resolve their differences over the size and makeup of the government.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister for Middle Eastern Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov Wednesday met with Hariris representative in Moscow George Shaaban, discussing the formation of a government of technocrats headed by Hariri capable of resolving the urgent and sharp economic and social problems in Lebanon, according to a statement issued by the premier-designates media office quoting a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The two also exchanged viewpoints on the conditions in the Middle East with focus on the situation in Lebanon, it said.
The Russian side affirmed its principled and firm position in supporting Lebanons sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and also stability for friendly Lebanon, the statement added.
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