Berri Expects Cabinet to be Formed this Week, Says Consultations Ongoing

Speaker Nabih Berri expected on Monday that the cabinet would be formed in the middle of this week, pointing out that contacts are ongoing over the formation of an all-embracing government.

“The cabinet is expected to be formed this week if no unforeseen complications and surprises loomed to the surface,” Berri said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

He stressed that the March 8 and 14 rival coalitions are organizing their stances to facilitate the formation of the cabinet.

The cabinet formation process was put on the front burner after Berri proposed a revised 8-8-8 government formula and President Suleiman said he would form a so-called neutral cabinet if the political rivals don't agree on an all-embracing government within ten days.

Amid the Lebanese Forces' rejection of Hizbullah's participation in the cabinet, the March 14 camp has reportedly accepted the 8-8-8 formula in principle, but it is awaiting answers pertaining to the ministerial policy statement and the rotation of portfolios among political parties.

The 8-8-8 formula divides ministers equally between the centrists and March 14 and 8 alliances, in which each get eight ministers with “decisive ministers” for the March 14 and 8 coalitions.

Berri considered that the March 14 alliance's request for guarantees from the rival party regarding the government and its ministerial statement is “not justified.”

The March 14 alliance had said that the only matter hindering any agreement with the March 8 alliance is the cabinet's policy statement.

The March 8 alliance and mainly Speaker Berri have called for keeping discussions on the policy statement until after the formation of the cabinet. He has also stuck to the army-people-resistance formula.

But the March 14 camp, which is holding on to a deal with its rivals on several of the government's aspects, has insisted on having the Baabda Declaration as the basis of the policy statement.

“The most important guarantee is represented by Prime Minister-designate (Tammam Salam), who is supposed to lineup a cabinet that comforts both sides,” the head of the AMAL movement said.

Berri reiterated that the cabinet's policy statement will not be discussed before its formation, saying that he will demand that AMAL movement ministers be appointed in portfolios in the new cabinet that equal the important portfolios his party has now.

He hailed a new ex-Prime Minister and head of al-Mustaqbal movement Saad Hariri's stance regarding the formation of the cabinet, describing him as a “leader.”

On Friday, ex-Prime Minister and head of al-Mustaqbal movement Saad Hariri announced that he is showing positivity in the cabinet formation process and noted that Hizbullah is a political party that is leading a “big coalition.”