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BEIRUT: A new war of words erupted over the weekend between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Future Movement with the two sides accusing each other of responsibility for blocking the formation of a new government desperately needed to rescue the country from all-out economic collapse.
The renewed FPM-Future strains, which are bound to further complicate the already-stalled Cabinet formation process, came after a flurry of intensified Arab and foreign political activity in Lebanon failed to make any breakthroughs in the monthslong deadlock.
The exchange of accusations between the FPM and the Future Movement clearly reflected spiraling tensions and a crisis of confidence between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, whose deepening rift over the size and makeup of a new Cabinet for more than eight months has left the country without a fully empowered government to cope with multiple crises, including an unprecedented financial downturn.
Worse still, repeated Arab and foreign appeals, including those made by the United States, Russia and France, to Lebanons rival leaders to agree on the swift formation of a government of nonpartisan specialists to implement essential reforms in line with the French initiative to halt the economic collapse and avert a much-feared social implosion appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. Implementation of long-overdue reforms is deemed crucial for unlocking promised foreign aid to the cash-strapped country.
Aoun and Hariri have refused to budge on their conflicting positions on the Cabinet formation. They remain at odds over the distribution of key ministerial seats, namely the Justice and Interior ministries, and the naming of Christian ministers. Dimming hopes for a solution to the crisis is that Aoun and Hariri, who are constitutionally mainly responsible for the Cabinet formation, have not been on speaking terms since their last meeting on March 22 that failed to resolve their rift.
In what has become a weekly pattern, the FPM lashed out at Hariri, accusing him of hindering the government formation and urging him to present the president with a new draft Cabinet lineup. The FPM's political committee said the party would not participate in the new government.
The Lebanese are fed up with the repeated reasons that stand behind Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri refraining from forming a government. This delay is affecting the lives of the people and aggravating the financial and economic collapse, the FPMs committee said in a statement issued after its online weekly meeting chaired by FPM leader MP Gebran Bassil Saturday.
The FPM, which again reiterates that it will not participate in the government, stresses that it will not stop urging the premier-designate to form [a government] in accordance with [the prerequisites] of the [National] Pact and the Constitution, the statement said.
It added that the FPM was making intensive efforts to encourage the premier-designate to draw up a complete Cabinet project and present it to the president in accordance with the rules so that they can agree on the formation of a government that can gain the confidence of Parliament, the international community and all the Lebanese.
In a quick response, the Future Movement issued a statement calling on the FPM to halt the boring comic theatrics and stop spreading lies over the Cabinet formation.
The FPM knows that the premier-designate has presented a Cabinet lineup with full specifications more than four months ago based on the criteria of the Constitution, the [National] Pact and competency. But unfortunately so far the president is holding it up along with judicial appointments and the Civil Service Council decrees, the Future statement said, referring to a new batch of judicial appointments recommended by the Higher Judicial Council last year which Aoun has refused to endorse.
Hariri, who was appointed on Oct. 22 to form a new government after Prime Minister Hassan Diabs Cabinet resigned on Aug. 10 in the aftermath of the deadly Beirut Port explosion, presented Aoun with the first draft Cabinet lineup of 18 nonpartisan specialists on Dec. 9, which the president rejected on the grounds it did not preserve national balance.
After their last meeting at Baabda Palace on March 22, Hariri said the president insisted on gaining a blocking one-third [veto power] in the new government, a major hurdle that has blocked the formation and something that the premier-designate has vowed not to grant to any party
In the absence of contacts between Aoun and Hariri to resolve the crisis, an official source painted a gloomy picture of the Cabinet situation.
Asked whether Aoun might invite Hariri for consultations on the Cabinet crisis next week, the source familiar with the matter told The Daily Star Sunday: There is nothing new concerning the Cabinet situation. Even Speaker Nabih Berris initiative has been put on hold and there are no new factors to set it into motion for the time being.
Neither Aoun nor Hariri has yet commented on Berris initiative to break the Cabinet impasse. Berris proposal calls for the formation of a 24-member Cabinet of nonpartisan specialists with no veto power granted to any side. The proposal would divide the suggested Cabinet of 24 ministers into three groups: eight ministers to Aoun, eight ministers to Hariri and allies, and eight ministers to the Amal Movement, Hezbollah and their allies. This division would ensure that no side gains veto power.
Hariri returned Friday after an official visit to Moscow where he held talks with his Russian counterpart and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the Cabinet crisis and economic assistance to Lebanon. Lavrov reaffirmed Russias support for Hariri to form as soon as possible a government capable of tackling the economic crisis and acquiring Arab and international financial aid.
Taking an indirect spike at Aoun, who has been pushing for a forensic audit of the Central Banks accounts, a key demand of international donors, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai emphasized that there can be no reforms or a forensic audit without the formation of a government of nonpartisan specialists.
In order for the new government to be effective and capable of carrying out reforms and strengthening national unity, a government made up of parliamentary blocs and a partisan government have been ruled out to avoid internal rifts that disrupt its work. It was agreed that the [new] government be made up of specialists who are experienced in the affairs of state and in various fields of life, Rai said in a sermon Sunday at his seat in Bkirki, northeast of Beirut.
Peter Stano, the European Unions spokesman for external affairs, warned that Lebanon faced the threat of collapse, criticizing Lebanese political parties for not taking steps to deal with the worsening economic crisis. He hinted at the prospect of sanctions on those blocking the government formation.
We are studying possible options to help Lebanon and all options are open, he said in a TV interview Saturday. The decision to impose sanctions on Lebanese figures and entities requires the consent of all members in the European Union.
French and Western diplomats have said that after months of stalemate, France is now ready to discuss the prospect of sanctions, at EU or national level, on senior Lebanese officials, although it is not likely to be immediate. France and the EU are putting together proposals that could see asset freezes and travel bans imposed on Lebanese politicians to finally push them to agree on a government to rescue their country from economic collapse.
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