Miqati Intensifies Contacts to Break Cabinet Formation Deadlock
Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati will launch intense consultations with Lebanese officials on Thursday in an effort to break the impasse on the cabinet formation process, An Nahar daily said.
The newspaper said that talks between Miqati and Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday paved way for a series of meetings that the premier-designate is scheduled to hold with officials involved in the formation of the government.
March 8 sources told An Nahar that the new majority’s leadership is holding talks away from the media spotlight to end the deadlock that has delayed the announcement of the cabinet line-up.
Although the sources did not confirm if Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun had agreed to relinquish his demand for the interior ministry portfolio, other sources said that the MP had given his consent following a meeting with Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud in Rabiyeh on Wednesday.
The portfolio was part of President Michel Suleiman’s share in Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government.
However, Baabda palace visitors told al-Liwa daily that no major progress has been made in Miqati’s efforts, saying in reference to Aoun that if some March 8 forces keep insisting on their demands, then the premier-designate would form a purely technocrat government.
But such an option is not feasible, they said.
The coming few days will be decisive in terms of deciding on the cabinet’s shape and structure, the sources added.
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