Miqati Says Ministers Refusing to Abide by Cabinet Decisions Should Resign

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated that cabinet sessions will remain suspended unless he receives promises from ministers that they will be productive, demanding those who don’t want to abide by the government’s decisions to resign.

“I have set a basic rule: you either implement the cabinet’s decisions or if you don’t want to abide by them resign,” Miqati told the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat on Friday.

He stressed that the cabinet didn’t collapse yet “and there will be no boycott… I am seeking to boost the government’s productivity.”

Miqati headed to Paris on Thursday to meet with senior French officials amid a cabinet crisis that erupted on February 1 when the ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun rejected the names of candidates that the premier had proposed for the Higher Disciplinary Council that is linked to the premier’s office.

Asked if he will remain in his post if the situation continues in the same pattern, Miqati said: “The reasons that convinced me to accept my post are still there… But the mission, which is to maintain stability (in Lebanon), is tough.”

The premier denied that the cabinet crisis is connected to the situation in Syria, saying that the Lebanese are used to linking the situation locally to “plots” and foreign meddling.

Miqati told the daily that the banking sector is the backbone of the Lebanese economy, and “I am definite that the banks will not violate the international and European Union sanctions on Syrian banks, officials and companies.”

He stressed “although there are allies for Syria in the government, however, they will not perform any pressure on the banking sector to violate the sanctions…. We shouldn’t confuse things.”

The PM said that disassociating Lebanon from the developments in Syria aims at safeguarding the country.

Miqati is expected to hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee palace in Paris on Friday, during his first official visit to the French capital.

He will also meet with his counterpart Francois Fillon, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, President of the French Senate Jean-Pierre Bel, and French Total's CEO Christopher de Margerie.

The premier said that he will visit former PM Saad Hariri to inquire about his health following fractures to his leg in a ski accident in the French Alps in January.

“It is my duty to visit an ex-PM and I wish he would get well soon,” Miqati said.