Miqati to Launch New Round of Consultations to Break Cabinet Impasse

Premier-designate Najib Miqati is expected to launch in the next few days a new round of consultations aimed at forming the new government in coordination with Speaker Nabih Berri, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and Hizbullah.

March 8 sources told An Nahar newspaper on Monday that Miqati would play an essential role in reviving the consultations that reached a standstill last week over allegedly growing demands by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

No contacts were made in the past 48 hours between the parties involved in the formation of the cabinet, a well-informed source told As Safir daily.

It stressed that no new initiatives were made to break the deadlock, which on Wednesday enters its fifth month. “There is no ready-made formula now.”

But the sources confirmed that contacts would resume in the coming hours through most probably visits that Miqati would make to Baabda palace and Ain el-Tineh for talks with respectively President Michel Suleiman and Berri.