Reports: Adib to Meet Berri; FPM Wants Finance, Interior Portfolios
Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri in the coming hours in a bid to resolve the dispute over the finance ministerial portfolio, media reports said.
"He will seek to reach a middle ground formula regarding the finance portfolio," to which Berri and Hizbullah are "clinging," the privately-owned al-Markazia news agency quoted political sources as saying.
Adib had held phone talks with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Sunday evening, hours after Berri and the FPM chief expressed dismay over the way in which the PM-designate is seeking to form the new government.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also called Berri and Bassil after the emergence of hurdles delaying the formation of the new government.
The political sources said Adib is showing cooperation because he does not want to "break anyone" although he is still seeking to form "a small government of independent experts" with a rotation of the key ministerial portfolios.
MTV meanwhile reported that Aoun and Bassil want a 20- or 24-member cabinet and "have no problem in the rotation of portfolios on the condition of getting the interior and finance portfolios."
14 September 2020, 17:57
04
Shame, shame, shame, they have not learnt their lessons from the past. Macron & the international community are WATCHING !
14 September 2020, 18:06
03
I never forget when I bought 1kg box of cherries in Lebanon, the outside layer looked delicious, underneath was rotten, this is Lebanon approach , mentality and culture, deja vu!
THe PM innocent decent person the upper layer of the cherry box, but he has to deal with the rotten cherries
14 September 2020, 18:31
15
The only thing FPM and Berri deserve is being on the US list of sanction. This will be an answer to many prayers. Lebanese will dance in the street when this happens. Hopefully this week!
14 September 2020, 21:19
01
That's how naive the Lebanese can be , dance in the street because of 2 parties got an ordeal, I would advise wait till all and I mean all existing political players are out , then educate the Lebanese to accept and respect other opinions and ensure a sectarian society ; meaning when? at least one or 2 generations from now...25 to 50 years if you start today.
14 September 2020, 22:29
02
Not so @s.o.s.
It’s precisely because Berri owns so much in the US that the sanctions will bite him. To be sure, the US likely doesn’t want to break Berri, instead aiming at domesticating him with the threat of freezing his US assets.
14 September 2020, 19:26
24
And here I and thousands of others believing that Adib was going to set up a government od technocrats, not political yes men to their parties.
14 September 2020, 19:39
02
I guess Bassil did still enough money$$$ and needs more. What a joke!!! Lebanon will remain a banana republic!!!
14 September 2020, 22:33
10
The Green Book is direct democracy, we have Oil and Gas, who needs IMF or any external forces? we should of kidnapped Macron for a reward.
14 September 2020, 22:46
23
Whats the point in having the government resign when the same crooks are calling the shots behind the scenes? Waste of time
14 September 2020, 22:53
11
The Shiites of Lebanon aim at cementing their long held wet dream of a tripartite structure in Lebanon that blows the 100 years old equation of equal division between Christians and Muslims which forms the basis for the country.
If the Shiites insist on the tripartite equation, then the only solution IMHO is federation for Lebanon or even full blown separation between those who want Lebanon as it was envisioned and those who want to play the numbers game.
14 September 2020, 23:11
21
The Christians and most Sunni and a significant number of our Shiite compatriots vision of Lebanon is one based on principles anathema to Hizbullah’s. Our vision rests on these principles:
1- TOTAL and complete neutrality along the lines enunciated by the Maronite patriarchate
2- Enshrine individual freedoms in practice and principle - similar to the West
3- Equitable distribution of Lebanon’s wealth - no democracy is possible without this crucial point
4- Separation of Church/Mosque and state - MUST have for Lebanon if it is to survive
5- Election law based on small entity divisions - similar to the system implemented by the West
6- Implement Taef’s agreement vis a vis creation of a Senate with teeth
7- NO armed parties under ANY guise whatsoever - weapons in Hizbullah's cannot remain
14 September 2020, 23:29
12
8- Purge public institutions from political cronies - CRUCIAL long term goal perhaps with the help of the U.N.
9- Enforcing accountability - though political parties’ participation, including Hizbullah once disarmed, is the norm in any democracy, their influence must be kept in check as it is in other Western democracies lest chaos prevails as it has
10- Our youth are our future - providing them opportunities in Lebanon is key for our survival
15 September 2020, 18:19
00
Lebnanfirst: All the 10 objectives you mentioned sound promising, here and there you mentioned
similar to the west, I tell you the foundation of Lebanon and the culture of the Lebanese are different than the west, in Europe nobody is interested in the religion of friends, politicians ,neighbours etc.. this is considered a private issue. In Lebanon the first think A Lebanese wants to know " to whom I'm talking to? Druze,Muslim,Maronite.
Moreover before Neutrality ,first equality: why the president must be Maronite, a competent Druze,Jew,protestant,muslim whether Shia or sunni must be feasible. bottom line I believe Lebanese are not yet ready to be emancipated from religion, probably 2 Lebanon is the answer Arab one and western one.as such why not if freedom and prosperity can be achieved.
15 September 2020, 20:25
00
That’s the point @kazan
The West once was embroiled in similar religious wars between Christian factions - think Catholics and Protestants and religion was ingrained in their psyche until they came to the realization that such religious identification is a fatal phenomenon hence the separation of church and state.
14 September 2020, 22:55
01
بالفيديو وعلى «عينك يا تاجر».. المساعدات الإنسانية في تعاونية «رمّال»!
https://janoubia.com/2020/09/14/بالفيديو-وعلى-عينك-يا-تاجر-المساعدات/
15 September 2020, 02:35
01
How are their still people that support gebran bassil and Michel aoun , I thought Lebanese we’re smart.....
15 September 2020, 07:42
01
Objective historians will mention that the corrupt Lebanese politicians were the real cause for the failure of competent civilised and honest people like Adib and Diab
15 September 2020, 17:20
00
Agree that Hariri ( the father) RIP was an asset for Lebanon, but the Lebanese system killed him.
I have no doubts that Diab and Adib are competent and honest people definitely no puppets, more over, they are from different league than all other Lebanese politicians , I would rather use they were " too naive" to believe that the Lebanese political structure will let them freely proceed with the change the majority of the population is asking for.
for Lebanon only one person can achieve it : a hybrid of Jesus and Mohamed.
15 September 2020, 17:36
00
LOGIK you said " I spit on this country and its people." WOW!
I don't believe you mean what you said, the fact that you read Naharnet and you react, I conclude you care about the country and its people, I presume your comments are triggered by anger and frustration, anger is not a good counselor. Try to be more in control :)
