Report: Aoun, FPM Insist on Interior, Justice Portfolios amid Paris, Hizbullah Mediation

President Michel Aoun and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil have recently agreed to give up their demand of getting a one-third veto power in the new cabinet in return for obtaining the interior and justice portfolios, political sources said.

The development followed French and Hizbullah mediation efforts, the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, however, rejected the proposal, arguing that it is an attempt to “bypass the French initiative” and would “open the door to representing political affiliations in the government.”

“Hizbullah’s leadership had made an initiative through a visit to Baabda by Hussein Khalil, the political aide of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Bassil also communicated with Nasrallah in a phone call carried out during his meeting with Hizbullah liaison official Wafiq Safa,” the sources added.

“Aoun and Bassil told Nasrallah the same thing they had told the members of the French crisis cell, expressing their readiness to facilitate the government’s formation on the condition that Hariri agree to give them the interior and justice portfolios,” the sources went on to say.