Mustaqbal MP: No Govt with Veto Powers, No Govt without Specialists

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Mohammed Hajjar stressed on Monday that no obstruction powers will be given to any party in the new government, which will be formed of non-partisan experts as demanded by the PM-designate Saad Hariri.

In remarks to LBCI television station, Hajjar said: “No government with a one-third-plus-one obstruction power, and no government without experts.”

PM-designate Saad Hariri, leader of al-Mustaqbal Movement, insists on forming an 18-member cabinet comprised entirely of technocrats.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun has been calling on Hariri to step down if he is incapable of forming a government suitable to all parties.

Lebanese leaders have so far failed in forming a much-needed government to steer Lebanon out of a crippling economic crisis, and unlock international aid for the crisis-wracked nation.

On Monday, France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian cranked up pressure on Lebanese leaders to form a government, urging them in personal phone calls for an immediate halt to what he called “deliberate obstruction” that’s driving the country toward collapse.

Le Drian is also asking European counterparts to join the push for action.

Those efforts have led to nowhere as Lebanon’s politicians continue to bicker about the shape and size of a new Cabinet while the country is mired in the worst economic crisis in its modern history — a situation exacerbated by pandemic restrictions.