Hariri backs down at “18”: a new maneuver?

Despite the darkness that reigned in the environment of the consultations to form a government, and although the president in charge of forming them, Saad Hariri, extinguished his motives, some progress was registered, although in a very partial way, without much hope of reaching it. the end. According to sources close to the President of Parliament, Nabih Berri, the latter obtained from Prime Minister Saad Hariri a position for which he would resign from the number of 18 ministers, and openness to increasing the number of ministerial seats, in a way that solves the composition complex, as long as no one gets the third block (one third plus one).

Berri’s initiative is based on forming a government of 24 ministers, without a third party blocking anyone. Berri, as he told the representatives of Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai, who visited him yesterday, is waiting for a clear position from President Michel Aoun to reject the third guarantor. Although Aoun has reiterated this position, through more than one medium, the President of the Council expects a pragmatic position on the matter. On the other hand, Berri expects from Hariri a practical retirement to adhere to the contract of “18 ministers”, who is no longer the head of the Amal Movement, and with him the president of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt, they see any viability in it.
Patriarch Al-Rahi sent Berri yesterday his (unofficial) adviser for political affairs, former minister Sajaan Azzi, and his first adviser, Bkerke’s media official, Walid Ghayad. According to sources from the meeting, the pastor wanted from the meeting to know what Berri was doing at the government level, and place him in the environment of what he had previously achieved. According to sources, it was found that there are points in common between the two parties, namely:
First, I support the French initiative,
Second, support for a government of specialists, not politicians,
Third, the third obstructing refused to anyone,
Fourth, not to impose new customs outside the constitution.
Berri informed the Patriarch’s representatives about what happened between him and the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in the phone call the day before, when the head of French diplomacy said: “The world is watching how the Lebanon is falling and we will move towards the European Union to impose sanctions on obstacles to the formation of a government that implements reforms ”.

“Strong Lebanon” bloc demands negotiations with Syria on northern maritime borders

In this regard, Al-Akhbar learned that Hariri was busy knowing whether the French would classify him among the saboteurs. And if they threaten him with sanctions, he will precede it by apologizing for not forming the government. However, the president-designate made sure that Paris did not see him as an obstacle, but rather supported many of his positions. According to relevant sources, the French want to limit the participation of the president of the republic in the next cabinet.
Al-Akhbar learned that the next few hours will witness direct contact between Berri and Aoun, either by a visit by Berri, or his representative, to the Republican Palace, or by a phone call.
In contrast to the optimism expressed by the atmosphere of Ain al-Tineh, sources concerned about the negotiation indicated that no serious progress has yet appeared, fearing that Hariri is in the process of maneuvering to show the President of the Republic and the President of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, as obstructors to the birth of the government.
The “Strong Lebanon Bloc” demanded, after its electronic meeting headed by Bassil, yesterday “the prime minister in charge of the initiative to present a government formula that meets the conditions of the charter, the constitution and the jurisdiction, in light of the positions that ask for a way out of the stagnation and the artificial complex of 18, because there is a lot in that. Of solutions to various problems. The bloc considered that “whenever the pressure to implement criminal audits intensifies, proposals arise from those affected to dilute the issue under the headings of comprehensive scrutiny”, stating that “it supports the audit in all ministries, departments, facilities, councils and organs without this being a reason to delay the criminal scrutiny of the accounts of the Banque du Liban.
He reminded the bloc that “the electricity subsidy process in Lebanon began with the government of the martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 1994 (…), and he is sure that the reality of the cost of electricity comes from the subsidy to set the price of a barrel of fuel at $ 20, which cost the treasury billions of dollars. “
He called on “the competent Lebanese authorities to do what is necessary to guarantee the full rights of Lebanon and its maritime and land borders.” In this context, he recalled that “the head of the bloc, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gebran Bassil, had previously directed the necessary books to the competent authorities in Lebanon on the overlapping of the maritime economic borders between Lebanon and Syria, and also sent letters of objection to the Syrian side to guarantee the preservation of Lebanon’s rights and borders. Consequently, the bloc asked “to carry out the necessary negotiations between Lebanon and Syria in this regard, on the basis of respect for good neighborliness and international law.”

Subscribe to «News» on YouTube here