Miqati to Meet Aoun Tuesday as French-U.S. Efforts Intensify

A meeting Tuesday between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati might be the last chance to form a new government, a media report said.

“Miqati will visit the President tomorrow carrying a new line-up. But if no pre-visit agreement was reached for the issue of the economy portfolio and if Miqati does not drop his new demand for getting the energy portfolio, tomorrow will be the date of plunging into the unknown, and it is not known whether Miqati’s next step would be resignation,” informed sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Monday.

MP Jamil al-Sayyed meanwhile announced that Washington made high-level contacts with Aoun and Miqati over the past 24 hours to press for the formation of the new government as soon as possible.

“This was accompanied by an intensive French endeavor that resulted in a near-final agreement on a government comprised of eight ministers for each camp,” al-Akhbar added.