Paris Says Cabinet Deadlock Linked to Syria as West Expresses Readiness to Help

The standstill in the cabinet is the result of the upheaval in Syria, western sources said, stressing they remain adamant that Premier-designate Najib Miqati was nominated after a coup by the new parliamentary majority against Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government.

Paris informed Miqati’s advisor Joe Issa al-Khoury that it insists on its stance that the nomination came after “a forceful coup that toppled the cabinet that had emerged from the Doha accord,” French sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday.

Syria “is now busy with its local issues. That’s why the expected results from this coup have changed and are no longer in the interest of the majority as some had estimated,” the sources said.

They said that Miqati was incapable of forming the cabinet due to the “new status quo in Syria.”

“For the time being, Syria can’t exercise pressure” on Miqati, the sources told al-Hayat.

Al-Mustaqbal daily also quoted western diplomatic sources as saying that the link between the situation in Syria and the formation of the new government in Lebanon would lead the country into more vacuum and reflect negatively on the economic situation.

They expressed concern over the vacuum but stressed that the solution lies in the hands of the Lebanese. The international community is only ready to assist in the efforts to form the cabinet, the sources told al-Mustaqbal.

“France has informed more than one side involved in the formation that it rejects putting pressure on the premier-designate,” they said. “It understands that he is in a difficult situation but it’s important for France that a cabinet that respects international resolutions and Lebanon’s commitments is formed.”