Miqati: No Side Will Benefit from Government Collapse

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed that the government will not collapse despite the internal disputes, especially those regarding the appointments of civil servants, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He told the daily: “It’s in no one’s interest to topple the government at the time being.”

“A solution to the appointments file will be proposed very soon, while some appointments in Christian positions remain to be resolved,” he added.

“We can support one vacancy, but the country cannot support more problems and I am avoiding any dispute,” said the premier.

A dispute erupted between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the appointment of the head of the Higher Judicial Council as the two insist on the names they proposed.

Regarding the dispute over government spending, Miqati stated: “We have come a long way towards settling the dispute and a meeting will be held with Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi in order to end it.”

“The minister presented me with a solution two days ago and discussions are ongoing regarding the phrasing of some articles of his draft law,” he revealed.

This law will be part of cabinet’s next session on Wednesday or the week after it, he said.

The controversial spending has stirred a dispute between the March 8 and 14 forces after Miqati’s cabinet referred its 2011 $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill to parliament for approval.

The opposition March 14 lawmakers have boycotted parliament twice and conditioned the approval of the bill to the settlement of the spending made by the previous governments.

Addressing the government’s decision to distance itself from the developments in Syria, Miqati remarked that it stemmed from Lebanon’s geographic location, seeing as it shares 80 percent of its border with its neighbor.

In addition, he said that the divisions within Lebanon over the Syrian crisis have forced the government to distance itself from the unrest.

“Any position over than that would have led to dangerous repercussions,” he added.

“Even though we have distanced ourselves from the political situation in Syria, we have not distanced ourselves from the humanitarian one, stated Miqati.

“We have repeatedly demanded a halt to the bloodshed and have performed our duties towards the Syrian refugees, as testified by various international organizations,” stressed the premier.

On Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s recent positions in support of the Syrian people’s revolt against the regime, the prime minister said: “His stance does not contradict with the government majority.”

“I don’t believe that the government will be affected because of his position,” he noted.

Jumblat has recently been vocal in his criticism of the Syrian regime and support of the Syrian people, even placing the flag of the Syrian opposition on the grave of his slain father on the anniversary of his assassination on March 16.