A leading official from the Mustaqbal Movement told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that the critical time for deciding the fate of the Lebanese government is nearing.
“This week will be the deadline in the agenda of (Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri) to make a final choice” concerning the deadlock, the official said, adding that political forces who visited the PM in Paris last week have not presented new ideas related to the cabinet formation process.
“Hariri keeps receiving the same old ideas, which political forces keep bringing up. However, those ideas will not affect the decision he is about to announce,” the official explained.
He stressed that Hariri has already made sacrifices in a hope to speed up the birth of the new government, refusing to disclose the PM’s anticipated decision on the developments related to the cabinet formation process.
“Immediately after returning to Beirut, Hariri is expected to hold last-minute talks with the country’s political forces and make everyone confront their responsibilities,” the official revealed.
Other sources following up on the cabinet formation process said Hariri is well aware that the principal factor for moving the cabinet file from its current political deadlock relies on offering the Consultative Gathering a Sunni minister from the presidential share. This should be achieved without changing the distribution of portfolios already agreed upon among political blocs.
“The knot is stuck in the camp of (caretaker Foreign Minister) Jebran Bassil, who insists that his Free Patriotic Movement and President Michel Aoun get the blocking third, despite knowing very well that such a proposal cannot be achieved,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, a leading political official said that Hariri does not mind activating the current caretaker government to approve this year’s budget.
