Report: Berri Says His Initiative Still Applies
Speaker Nabih Berri said he does not plan to step back from his “initiative” to ease the government deadlock, praising the American and French stances in this regard, al-Joumhouria daily reported Saturday.
Berri’s initiative “is still on the table,” and the French-Amercian position is favorable, “the American stand beside the French on this, but the ball is in our court as Lebanese, the responsibility lies on our shoulders,” Berri said in remarks to al-Joumhouria.
“Our people are suffering, the economy collapsing, and the coming phase could be worse, (depleting) subsidies on basic goods can last for one more month, we therefore have to quickly form a government before it's too late,” he warned.
Berri stressed that the government must be formed in agreement between the President (Michel Aoun) and PM-designate (Saad Hariri), and that consultations between the two must continue until they reach common ground.
“According to the constitution, the PM stands responsible for the government before the parliament, and therefore sets the government format and submits it to the president of the republic, not vice versa,” he noted.
Berri initiative reportedly called on Aoun and Hariri to agree on the ministerial candidates for three contentious portfolios: interior, justice and energy.
Under the initiative, the president and the PM-designate were supposed to keep proposing names until they agree on consensual candidates in return for Aoun giving up the demand of getting the one-third veto power for his party.
Media reports said Hariri accepted the initiative as Aoun and his son-in-law MP Jebran Bassil rejected it.
Source: Naharnet
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