All eyes in Lebanon are on the outcome of the initiative launched by President Michel Aoun to solve the government crisis, specifically the controversy over the representation of the March 8 coalition’s Sunnis.
Aoun, who met on Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri, held a meeting on Tuesday with a delegation from Hezbollah that included MP Mohammed Raad and party official Hussein Khalil.
The Lebanese president warned of a catastrophe if his initiative failed.
“The government’s issue stumbled, and we found that we must reconcile all parties and take the initiative to form the government. If it does not work, there will be a disaster,” he said.
For his part, Berri refused to consider this initiative as a “last chance.”
In remarks on Tuesday, he said: “There is no such thing as last chance. The Lebanese mind is always creative and it is possible, God willing, to reach speedy solutions. During the meeting, we exchanged several ideas, so that if an idea does not succeed, the second will succeed. If the second does not succeed, the third will succeed.”
The Future Bloc expressed its optimism with Aoun’s initiative, reiterating that the powers of the prime minister-designate were not negotiable.
“The bloc believes that the initiative of His Excellency President Michel Aoun to reopen the doors of a quiet discussion… is an important step in the right direction. This will turn the page on what preceded of constitutional calls, and bring back dialogue so as to reach possible exits,” the bloc said in a statement.
It also stressed that “the powers of the premier-designate were “not subject to bargaining and prejudice under any circumstances, and that all attempts made in this regard, either through the creation of new customs or by imposing political conditions on the process of forming the government, will fail by virtue of the Constitution.”
