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BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is slated to present President Michel Aoun this week with a new Cabinet lineup in a last-ditch attempt to end a political deadlock that for nearly 11 months has left Lebanon without a fully functioning government to tackle multiple crises, including an unprecedented financial meltdown.
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is expected to present President Aoun with a new Cabinet lineup next week in a last chance for salvation, the NBN channel, which is affiliated with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berris Amal Movement, said Saturday night, quoting exclusive information.
An official source said Baabda Palace has not yet been informed of Hariris intention to visit the presidential palace. Prime Minister Hariri has not yet requested an appointment for a meeting with President Aoun, at least until now, the official source familiar with the matter told The Daily Star.
Aoun and Hariri, who are constitutionally mainly responsible for the Cabinet formation, have not been on speaking terms since their last meeting at Baabda Palace on March 22 that failed to resolve their differences over the size and makeup of the government. Aoun has rejected Hariris first draft Cabinet lineup of 18 nonpartisan specialists presented to him on Dec. 9.
A senior Future Movement official said Sunday that all options are on the table, including stepping down for Hariri, who has been struggling since Oct. 22 to form a proposed Cabinet of nonpartisan specialists to deliver reforms and rescue the country from all-out economic collapse.
Asked whether Hariri would next week either step down or present Aoun with a new Cabinet lineup, Abdel Salam Moussa, the Future Movements general media coordinator, told Al-Jadeed TV: All options are on the table but the decision and the timing are in the hands of Prime Minister Hariri. Next week the Cabinet picture will be completed as Prime Minister Hariri is holding behind-the-scene contacts in and outside the country.
Moussa said that MP Gebran Bassils latest diatribe against Hariri in which he accuses the premier-designate of slaughtering Lebanon would further delay the Cabinet formation.
We are living under a mandate of hell ... Bassils statement will not lead to the government formation. President Aoun and Bassil have bypassed the constitutional ceiling and are trying to seize the premier-designates constitutional powers [in the Cabinet formation], Moussa said, quoting Aoun who said in a reply to a journalists question that Lebanon was heading to hell if a new government was not formed soon.
A member of the Free Patriotic Movements parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc called on Hariri to go to Baabda and agree with Aoun on the formation of a rescue government.
The economic situation is having an impact on all of us. Stop holding the Free Patriotic Movement unjustly responsible for obstruction. Let premier-designate Saad Hariri go to Baabda Palace and form a rescue government with the president in accordance with the Constitution to implement the required reforms, MP Simon Abi Ramia told Al-Jadeed TV.
The exchange of fierce rhetoric between the FPM and the Future Movement, reflecting spiraling tensions between Aoun and Hariri, was the latest episode in the Cabinet formation process that has been stalled for months as a result of a rift between the two leaders over the naming of two ministers and the distribution of key ministerial seats in a proposed Cabinet of nonpartisan specialists to save the country.
If we wanted to wait for the premier-designates whim, we will be watching the daily slaughter of Lebanon, be it in the issue of medicine, fuel or others. We have appealed to him since he was designated to form [a government] and today the elements of formation are accessible. We have eliminated all internal formation obstacles and at our expense, Bassil said.
The FPM leader said if Hariri has decided to step down, why does he slaughter the country and help in draining it further? Anyone who wanted to burn [Aouns] mandate, has burned the entire country.
The Future Movement struck back at Bassil, saying that Aouns son-in-law was skillful in insulting himself and the countrys presidency.
We might not need to respond or comment on Gebran Bassils remarks because [the presidents] son-in-law is sufficient to present the worst picture of [Aouns] mandate. He is skilled in insulting himself and the countrys presidency whenever he makes a statement targeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Future Movement said in a statement Saturday.
Bassil is talking about the daily slaughter of Lebanon, be it in medicine, fuel or others and he throws the slaughter accusation at Prime Minister Hariri. But his political genius forgets that the national slaughterhouse has its headquarters in Baabda and that the countrys president is the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement who is primarily concerned with the tragedies of the Lebanese and that Gebrans angels in the government are to be found in all ministries, the statement said.
Referring to the Energy Ministry, which has been held by Bassil and ministers from the FPM for more than 10 years and which has failed to solve the chronic electricity problem, the statement said: The fuel ministry has burned the country since he [Bassil] personally took the ministrys helm. The Higher Defense Council, headed by the president, has replaced the Cabinet in running the countrys affairs and insulting citizens and is issuing orders in violation of the law and the Constitution to specialists in health, public works, electricity, generators and fuel importers.
The statement scoffed at Bassils claim that he had eliminated all hurdles facing the Cabinet formation. Those who launched initiatives [to solve the Cabinet crisis] point accusing fingers at him of obstruction from inside and outside [the country], it said.
Hariri and Future Movement MPs have long accused Bassil of blocking the government formation with his tough conditions, including his insistence on gaining a blocking one-third plus one [veto power], something the premier-designate has vowed not to grant to any party.
Later, responding to the Future statement, the FPM called on Hariri to decide either to form a government or step aside.
Once again, the Future Movement hides behind insults and offensive words in its constant escape from facing the truth and the moment of decision, said a statement issued by the FPMs central media committee Saturday night. In short, and without the need to remind of the outrageous acts committed by the Future Movement over 30 years, responsibility for decision falls personally on premier-designate Saad Hariri: Either immediately form [a government] and thats what we want from him and for him, or step down which is the lesser of two evils.
Bassils tough rhetoric against Hariri contrasted sharply with his remarks Thursday in which he said he was ready to help the premier-designate to form a new government. He also claimed that the FPM would be the biggest losers if Hariri decided to step aside.
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