Suleiman Says State Sole Guarantee, Calls for Consensus on Policy Statement
President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that the Baabda declaration reflects the aspirations of the Lebanese, calling on the arch-foes to ink the cabinet's policy statement based on the consensus of its formation.
“The state is the only guarantee for national unity and history has proved that we are strong when we have agreement on the broad national issues,” Suleiman said in a speech during the opening of Lebanese Economic Forum at the Four Seasons Hotel in Biel.
He pointed out that the Lebanese rival parties abandoned their high demands and formed a balanced, national unity government, which should be the foundation of all upcoming political challenges.
A seven-member panel drafting the ministerial policy statement, chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam, adjourned its discussions to Tuesday after failing during a ninth meeting to agree on the clause related to resistance against Israel.
The president called on all parties to respect the upcoming constitutional deadlines and to carry them within their timeframe, in particular the presidential elections.
Suleiman’s tenure ends in May 2014, but the constitutional period to elect a new head of state begins on March 25, two months prior to the expiration of Suleiman’s mandate.
The rival ministers pointed out after Friday's session that the gap between the March 14 and 8 alliances is still wide.
Suleiman and the March 14 alliance on one side and the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp on the other are locked in a dispute on the resistance clause of the policy statement.
Suleiman and March 14 are upholding the Baabda Declaration. But March 8, which includes Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal movement, is insisting on including in the blueprint Lebanon’s right to armed resistance against Israeli occupation.
Concerning the economic challenges confronting Lebanon, Suleiman said that the Baabda Palace will reveal an administrative decentralization approach to resolve the country's economic woes.
“It is time to implement courageous and rational economic policies,” Suleiman told participants.
He noted that “hopeless economic models shouldn't be adopted anymore as reforms must be carried out,” adding that “a law concerning the partnership between the public and private sectors should be adopted.”
The country's economy has suffered from years of domestic political turmoil, Syria-related clashes in several areas across Lebanon, a wave of kidnappings and plummeting tourism revenues.
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