Aoun Says his Bloc’s Ministers to Attend Cabinet Session but Leaves Door Open to All Options
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun announced on Wednesday that the ministers representing his Change and Reform bloc in the government would participate in a cabinet session later in the day.
“We decided to participate in today’s cabinet session because of the wage boost decree that has been submitted by the labor minister to the government,” Aoun said following talks with Marada chief Suleiman Franjieh, Tashnag Secretary-General Hovig Mekhitarian and Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan in Rabieh.
“We hope that the decree would be approved so that everyone could enjoy the holidays,” the MP said.
The FPM ministers had boycotted the last cabinet session to protest what they called the poor performance of Premier Najib Miqati and the government. They had set several conditions for their return, including the approval of the salary raise for public and private sector employees proposed by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas.
However, Aoun hinted that his ministers would boycott the sessions again if their demands were not met.
“We will discuss about the demands at a large-scale meeting … all options are possible within a certain timeframe,” he told reporters. “We will then decide our next step.”
In a confirmation of media reports that Marada, Tashnag and LDP rejected any possible resignation of the Change and Reform bloc ministers, Aoun said: “There are different viewpoints within the bloc.”
“We will decide the negative and positive aspects and take the decision,” he said. “It’s better for us to consult” with the other members of the bloc.
When asked about the PM’s criticism that “not everyone preaching reform is necessarily a reformist,” Aoun said: “Let Miqati tell us about his reform project and let’s see if we would support it or not.”
“Let him first end overt and covert violations,” the FPM chief added.
Miqati said on Twitter on Tuesday that “people have the ability to differentiate between those seeking to put the country’s interest above all else and those continuously seeking to build personal loyalties.”
He stressed that accountability should be “according to (legal) norms and not for the sake of revenge.”
His comments came the same day Aoun slammed the government’s performance, saying it might collapse “if it continued down this path.”
07 December 2011, 15:54
27
it is OK for the FPM to continuously threaten to boycott or resign if things are not the way they want, but for others it is not acceptable :)
they are just servants to their masters who are on the brink of falling.... dragging them with them :)
07 December 2011, 16:35
22
If the doors are open, use them, and save us from your weekly psychosis.
07 December 2011, 16:43
26
replying to SWEETIE :)
such comments, which do not discuss what is said, and are just personal critics are so like aoun.
you are so sweet, tht you fail to comment on what is said rather your interest is to try and divert the attention to something else.
but you know what? readers on this blog have proved they really read the comments, so whatever you say just shows the intensity of how much you are scared your masters are about to fall :)
07 December 2011, 16:48
24
This is such a nothing guy. Not a player, but a leech. He threatens to collapse governments and the threats are more and more empty as he has to back peddle, take back his threats every time so that he has become just an angry babbling old man.
Why oh why do some Lebanese Christians still follow his lead? Surely he's not paying them all.
07 December 2011, 17:43
23
we repeat what we said yesterday: IT IS NOT UR DECISION.
only free people have free decisions.
