Aoun: Govt Formation Domestic Obstacles Gone, I’ve Heard Jumblat Has Backpedaled
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday noted that “the domestic obstacles hindering the cabinet formation process are gone,” adding that “if foreign obstacles are obstructing the cabinet formation process, we can help them resolve it.”
“When the cabinet is formed, you will know whether I have renounced my demands,” Aoun told reporters after an urgent meeting for his Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.
He noted that “announcing the new cabinet is up to” President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati.
“When the government is formed, we will seek consensus on its ministerial Policy Statement,” Aoun went on to say.
He announced that his bloc will take part in the controversial June 8 parliamentary plenary session called by Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been bickering with the MPs of the rival March 14 camp over the constitutionality of the session.
Addressing the row over the third mobile network, Aoun demanded a probe into “why the mobile phone wiretapping and control center is not being operated.”
“The successive authorities have not respected the laws throughout two decades, that's why the State's hierarchical structure has collapsed,” he noted.
“We remind the (caretaker) justice minister (Ibrahim Najjar), who was tasked to take legal measures against (Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf) Rifi, that he should promptly release his resolution so that the case doesn't meet the fate of the issue of ‘false witnesses,’” Aoun added.
“There is also a lawsuit filed by (caretaker Telecom Minister Charbel) Nahhas with Judge Saqr Saqr against Rifi and (OGERO Telecom General Director) Abdul Menem Youssef,” the FPM leader said, addressing Najjar.
“The lawsuit filed by Nahhas is independent from the measures taken by the president and there is no contradiction between us,” he noted.
Commenting on a recent meeting between Rifi and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly, Aoun said that “according to law, Rifi cannot meet any official except in the presence of the interior minister.
“We remind Mrs. Connelly to abide by the diplomatic protocols between nations according to the Vienna Convention,” Aoun added.
On the other hand, he said caretaker Finance Minister Rayya al-Hassan “is committing violations and we consider this very dangerous.”
“Minister al-Hassan is making deals and pledges she is not authorized to make,” Aoun said, referring to a deal made between the minister and land transportation unions.
Addressing recent stances by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, Aoun said: “I've heard that MP Jumblat has started to shift ground and that he is not affiliated with the March 8 camp or the March 14 camp. That makes two of us, but I'm not a centrist.”
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