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Beirut – Lebanese President Michel Aoun set in the middle of this month the date for the start of parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister, after the failure of a first attempt last month to form an “independent” government demanded by the street and the international community.
The setting of October 15 as the date for the start of the consultations comes one day after the start of the negotiations to demarcate the Lebanese-Israeli border, which will take place at the headquarters of the peacekeeping forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with mediation American.
Earlier, the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, emphasized the need to establish a government before the start of the border demarcation negotiations, in which the United States played a key role in their launch, withdrawing a series of concessions from the Lebanese Shiite duo, Hezbollah and the Amal movement, perhaps the most important of which is the acceptance of direct negotiations.
Last Thursday, Berri announced that negotiations with Israel on the demarcation of land and maritime borders would begin in mid-October under the auspices of the United Nations and the mediation of the United States, after reaching a “framework agreement” that specifies ” the course to follow in the negotiations “, without further details.
The concomitant parliamentary consultations for the nomination of a new prime minister and the border demarcation negotiations reinforce the hypothesis of foreign consensus, specifically American, French and Iranian on the formation of a rescue government in which Hezbollah would participate in exchange for paving the way. for direct negotiations with Israel.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced the postponement of a humanitarian aid conference for Lebanon until November, after it was scheduled for this October.
Le Drian told the National Assembly that the International Contact Group on Lebanon will meet in the coming days to emphasize the need to form a government.
Observers believe that postponing the conference for days may be aimed at examining the extent of the Lebanese parties’ commitment, this time, to recent agreements.
Lebanese politicians and activists fear that the country will once again be the victim of a game of concessions between the great powers, especially as this is indicated by the statements of Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, on the need to form a rescue government political.
Naim Qassem considered, after Aoun announced the date of the consultations, that “the socio-economic situation is no longer tolerable, the sword of the lifting of subsidies is hanging over the people and the crisis of the Crown is subject to further deterioration” . .
In his speech during a ceremony in honor of Sheikh Hassan Malak, he stressed that “this is not the time to adjust or change the balance of power, nor to strike against the results of the parliamentary elections, nor to create formulas for a government that does not represent representative blocks. “
He noted that “the last months have shown that the only available solution is the allocation and composition according to the constitution and the mechanisms adopted since Taif, and any violation of this solution means keeping the country in a state of stagnation and deterioration, the responsibility of those who do not. follow constitutional and legal paths. “
Activists who want a radical change in the political situation in Lebanon are concerned about the occurrence of a trade-off based on Hezbollah’s participation in the next government, in exchange for direct negotiations with Israel on the demarcation of the borders, a a demand that the Shiite duo Hezbollah and Amal have always rejected.
Following unsuccessful consultations following his appointment in late August, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib apologized on September 26 for failing to form the new government amid disagreements between the parties over ministerial portfolios and amid growing international demands for a government of specialists to implement the necessary reforms to get this country out of the worst economic crisis it faces. Decades ago.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “treason” of the Lebanese political class, despite promises made to him in September during his second visit to Lebanon.
During his visit, the political parties pledged with Macron to form a government that includes specialists and independents within two weeks, in order to obtain the necessary international assistance for the reactivation of the country, in accordance with an initiative that he launched after the tragic explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, at a time when Lebanon is experiencing the worst economic, political and social crisis in its history.
Macron accused Hezbollah and the Amal movement of reneging on their promises and obstructing the formation of a government, prompting angry reactions from their leaders, before the French ambassador to Beirut, Bernard Faucher, moved to cool the atmosphere.
