Report: March 8 Reaches Agreement on Main Conditions over New Cabinet
The March 8 camp will continue to facilitate Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's mission to form a new government amid an agreement being allegedly reached between its members, reported various media outlets on Saturday.
As Safir newspaper said that a meeting had taken place Friday morning between the Hizbullah leader's aide Hussein Khalil, Speaker Nabih Berri's political aide caretaker Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's aide caretaker Minister Jebran Bassil during which they agree on core issues over the new government that they will not waiver on.
The gatherers at the meeting, held at Rabieh, agreed to “completely reject the formation of a one-sided government,” revealed As Safir.
They also opposed any violation in the manner in which the cabinet will be formed, adding that the “former parliamentary majority should be represented at cabinet according to its true political size.”
They voiced their commitment to the Taef Accord, while rejecting any attempts to violate it.
In addition, they stressed the importance of forming a political cabinet capable of tackling the developments in the region.
Meanwhile, a prominent March 8 official told As Safir that even if the new cabinet is primarily aimed at staging the parliamentary elections, “does that mean it will not face economic, political, and security challenges?”
“Can a technocrat government take the decision to disassociate Lebanon from the Syrian crisis?” asked the official who was kept unnamed.
“The demand to form a cabinet capable of overseeing the elections may be an excuse to establish a one-sided one,” he noted.
He also did not rule out the possibility that the new government may take decisions that may lead Lebanon to dangers more serious than the ones previous governments were made to face.
Leading March 8 sources later told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the camp is monitoring the government-formation process with optimism.
On claims that conditions are being imposed on Salam, they said: “One must be reminded that when former Premier Saad Hariri was attempting to form a new government, he met with Berri ten times, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah twice, and Aoun three times.”
The March 8 forces have called for forming a political, national unity cabinet, while the March 14 forces have called for forming a neutral, technocrat cabinet.
Salam has meanwhile said that he is seeking a cabinet to oversee the parliamentary polls that does not contain MP hopefuls.
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