Lebanon: 'Positive' Hariri-Berri Meeting to Resolve Obstacles Hindering Govt Formation

Arab World

June 1st, 5:45am

Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat

Speaker Nabih Berri during his meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Monday (NNA).

Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held a two-hour meeting on Monday to discuss means to remove obstacles hindering the formation of a new government, especially those related to naming non-partisan Christian ministers. While Hariri declined to give comments on the meeting, the National News Agency (NNA) said that the two leaders reviewed latest political developments, noting that the atmosphere was positive. According to the information, Berri put forward a proposal to form a government of 24 specialists who do not belong to any political party. Sources close to the former prime ministers told to Asharq Al-Awsat that Hariri would not abandon his mission, stressing that he would not reject a government of 24 ministers, provided that no party obtains the blocking third. Later on Monday, a meeting was held at the presidential palace in Baabda, in the presence of Berri’s political assistant, MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein Khalil, the political aide to Hezbollah’s Secretary General. Berri’s Amal Movement underlined the need to “take advantage of the positive atmosphere” that was brought about by the speaker’s initiative. In a statement following its regular political bureau meeting, the movement said that openness and communication between the parties was a prerequisite for reaching an understanding over the government formation issue. In turn, Al-Mustaqbal Bloc MP Rola Tabash noted that chances of forming the government were currently almost equal to attempts obstructing it, adding in a post on her Twitter account that while the prime minister-designate was striving to overcome all difficulties internally and externally, a movement “driven by a presidential obsession is creating all obstacles to perpetuate the constitutional distortion, political rifts and social collapse.”

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3002836/lebanon-positive-hariri-berri-meeting-resolve-obstacles-hindering-govt