A meeting between the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces (LF), under the auspices of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, has stressed the need to consolidate the “Christian reconciliation” and to start a new phase as the two parties have acknowledged the failure of the Maarab agreement.
Information Minister in the caretaker government Melhem Riachi, representing the LF, and FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan met at the Patriarch’s summer seat in the Diman and received a message from Rai to each of President Michel Aoun and the heads of the FPM and LF, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Samir Geagea respectively.
Sources close to the matter described the atmosphere as “excellent” in terms of reconciliation, but “inconclusive” with regards to the political relationship and the Christian knot between the two parties in forming the government.
“Reconciliation is not negotiable for all parties…but the political agreement will be discussed on the basis of the conviction of the two sides and in line with Rai’s message, which requested a mechanism for communication through a joint committee and stressed the importance of speeding up the formation of the government and facilitating the task of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri,” the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
In this context, the sources noted that Riashi told the Patriarch that during a meeting held on Wednesday between Hariri and Geagea, the latter expressed his willingness to compromise in his government demand within the minimum share that reflects the LF parliamentary size.
However, the sources said the current situation did not forecast an imminent formation of the government, in light of the continuing differences and unsettled nodes, the most important of which are the shares of the Christian and Druze blocs.
As for the Maarab agreement, the failure of which was acknowledged by the two sides, the sources said: “It is clear that the political relationship between the two parties needs to be reviewed after all that happened.”
Rai’s message to the concerned leaders underlined the necessity to strengthen the historical reconciliation between the two parties and the need of “not turning any political differences between them into a dispute.”
He also called for “speeding up the formation of the government in accordance with constitutional standards, because the delay would seriously affect the work of public and private institutions and the situation at the economic, social and political levels.”
