Bassil: Aoun eagerly waiting to leave Baabda, resistance can't be strong without state
President Michel Aoun is eagerly waiting to leave the Baabda Palace when his term ends and "then we will return to our nature away from the palace’s limitations," Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said on Friday.
"The caretaker cabinet is not eligible to practice presidential powers and the presidential vote must be held on time to prevent vacuum," Bassil added, in an interview on al-Manar TV.
As for the formation of a new government, the FPM chief said "there is no hope that a government will be formed" soon, adding that he does not have "any demands."
"We call for forming a government so that we don't enter a full vacuum, " he added.
"The PM-designate has no intention to form a government and he is not exerting efforts," Bassil charged.
Mikati "wants to keep this government because he doesn't want to shoulder the responsibility of three matters -- removing the central bank governor, the border demarcation file and the issue of refugees," the FPM chief added.
Moreover, he stressed that it is Mikati and not the FPM who does not want a new government because he was "the one who visited Baabda and presented a line-up to the president, telling him 'I changed three of your ministers and a I've changed a fourth in agreement with Speaker (Nabih) Berri.'"
Bassil also said that he "will not insist on the energy portfolio in the new government," adding that he has informed France of this.
"We have not held onto the energy portfolio and in Hariri's government we suggested allotting it to Hezbollah but it refused it," he noted.
As for the relation with Hezbollah, Bassil said: "The resistace was betrayed in the July War and I will defend Hezbollah no matter what, because there is a scheme to liquidate it and eliminate it."
"The resistance cannot be strong without a state," he added, criticizing Hezbollah's alliance with Berri.
"We won over Israel in war but we didn't win over it in peace, and victory does not only come through weapons but rather in living with dignity. Why should the resistance be at the expense of the state?" Bassil asked.
"Without a state, there would be no homeland, but rather sectarian fiefdoms," he warned.
Source: Naharnet
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