Lebanon: President-designate determines options next week through training or apology

A political leader who keeps pace with the ongoing consultations to prepare the climate for the formation of the new government said that the stagnation will not continue indefinitely and that next week it is supposed to push towards the resolution of the positions, negatively or positively, and that the president-designate, Ambassador Mustafa Adeeb, will have to settle his options for training or an apology.
The reference, which preferred not to be named, emphasized that the only obstacle delaying the birth of the government is that some parties – referring to the position of the “Shiite duo” – insist on emptying the French initiative of its content, especially in view of its insistence that ministers appoint Shiites and each other. Finance Minister.
The political reference for “Asharq Al-Awsat” noted that simply giving in to the request of the “Shiite duo” in appointing the Shiite ministers would lead to the downfall of what he did to French President Emmanuel Macron, in terms of bringing in an independent government. of specialists.
And confirming that the consultations between President Michel Aoun and the President-designate continue, the last of which was the round that was carried out between them yesterday afternoon, he saw on the other hand that Adeeb did not refuse to receive from the representatives of the “Shiite duo”, (political assistant to the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, and the political assistant to the Secretary General of “Hezbollah” Hassan Nasrallah, Hussein Khalil) when they met the day before yesterday, a list of ten candidates to become position of the Ministry of Finance, with Adeeb choosing one of them to assume the position.
The political referent explained that Adeeb had reservations about the principle, based on the fact that his disagreement with any of the names on the list will push the representatives of the “Shiite duo” to present him with a second or third list, and so on until agree with the name.
He said that their mere agreement to choose a name based on the wish of the “Shiite duo” would lead others to demand that Adeeb treat them equally, and this would constitute a circumvention of the French initiative leading to their overthrow. He stressed that the new government in this case will be a copy of the resigned government, with the difference that Adeeb will replace President Hassan Diab at the head of this government.
He stressed that Adeeb wanted to block the path of the “Shiite duo” by refusing to receive from him a list of the names of the teachers, because if he showed his willingness to receive them, he could not refrain from receiving similar lists from other parliamentary blocs or object to the Aoun’s request to have a balanced presence in the Government.
And he believed that deviating from the roadmap that Macron drew with everyone’s agreement to save the country by establishing new criteria for the selection of ministers will meet a French objection that will automatically withdraw from the international community and Arab countries because Paris will not provide the political cover for a government that is basically rejected.
In this context, political sources are surprised by the attempt to undermine Adeeb’s role in the formation of the government by dealing with the leader of the Future Movement, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who it is he who is forming it on behalf of Adeeb, leading to the accusation that Hariri plans to return to prime minister.
The same sources assure Al-Sharq al-Awsat that whoever is betting on Hariri’s desire to return to prime minister after Adeeb exhausts his skills to train him, must realize that their bets are not correct. She attributes the reason to the fact that whoever decides to sacrifice himself and make concessions to register progress in the impasse of the crisis, opens the door to facilitate its birth and agrees with his own will to leave the political equation now, not he plans to return to prime minister.
He adds that Hariri decided to give up all his roles to give Adeeb his full support. He says he has taken it upon himself to be a “minesweeper” to break down “political packages” in order to remove all obstacles that are delaying the formation of the government. And he highlights that he has put all his political papers on the success of the French initiative to cut the way to what awaits Lebanon in the event that Macron makes his decision to withdraw his initiative from deliberation in the absence of any alternative he can fill the political vacuum that would result from France’s withdrawal from playing its role in saving Lebanon.
Sources warn against playing with the time factor and say Lebanon cannot afford to abandon the French initiative and put it on a waiting list until the US presidential elections. And he highlights that the blockade will be imposed on everyone and can lead the country into the unknown and from there to chaos, instead of providing all the facilities for its success.
These sources call on President Berri to play a rescue role based on his ability to deal with everyone other than his ally, Hezbollah, and say: “We will not ask you to confront your ally, but to intensify your presence due to your effectiveness in convincing your ally that there is no interest in extending assignment queries to no avail. Lest Macron be forced to reconsider his initiative, to freeze it at a time when no party can pay the political cost of abandoning it. “