Democratic Gathering urges productive govt., accuses Aoun of sea border bargaining

The parliamentary bloc of the Progressive Socialist Party, known as the Democratic Gathering, on Friday called for forming a new government as soon as possible and said it discussed “the characteristics that the PM-designate should enjoy.”

In a statement issued after a meeting in Clemenceau, the bloc called for “a serious discussion of the shape of the government” and said it should be “a government of production and serious action.”

It added that the new government will have to “implement the necessary reforms, continue the course of the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, and confront the financial, social and economic crisis and its dangerous social impact on citizens, something that the current government has unfortunately failed to achieve.”

The bloc also said that it rejects “any attempt to re-raise the heresy called one-third-plus-one veto share” and called for putting an end to “the principle of sovereign and non-sovereign ministerial portfolios,” stressing that “all portfolios should be allowed for the representatives of all components, away from the monopolization policy that has so far been adopted.”

Turning to the issue of Lebanon’s maritime border dispute with Israel, the bloc criticized that Lebanon has offered the U.S. mediator a “verbal rather than a written response,” adding that such a move “raises questions over the truth of what’s happening and the absence of transparency in the official approach towards this sovereign and national file.”

Accusing some forces of “trading with Lebanon’s resources for personal motives,” the bloc said the Presidency has refused to sign the decree adopting the so-called maritime Line 29 as Lebanon’s official border for the sake of “personal calculations that have nothing to do with the national interest.”