Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is seeking to intensify his contacts and consultations over the formation of the new government in light of the March 14 camp’s official announcement that it will not take part in it.

The main obstacle in the formation process lies in Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s demands, which he seems more attached to than ever, reported Al-Akhbar on Tuesday.

Dutch Ambassador to Lebanon Hero de Boer stressed that justice must take its course on the national and international scenes regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Tuesday that the Netherlands cannot “make guesses over the release date of the indictment” in the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri or over who will be accused in the crime “as these are matters that would severely affect our credibility.”

Speaker Nabih Berri snapped back at Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri saying a country’s “capital would collapse if there is no presence of strong arms on its border.”

“This is exactly what happened in 1982,” Berri told As Safir daily in remarks published Tuesday. “Hadn’t the resistance planted its seeds in the infamous Khalde battle, Israel wouldn’t have gradually pulled out.”

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Samir al-Jisr snapped back at Premier-designate Najib Miqati, saying there could be no justice in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case without Lebanese commitment to the international tribunal.

“How could we talk about justice without the court?” al-Jisr wondered in remarks published by An Nahar daily on Sunday. “Justice comes through the tribunal.”

House Speaker Nabih Berri noted on Friday that the March 14 camp’s announcement of its refusal to take part in Cabinet will facilitate and speed up Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s efforts to form the government, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

Furthermore, he questioned before his visitors on Friday the slowness in the government formation process seeing as the names of potential ministers all belong to one camp.

The task of Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form the new government has become more difficult as President Michel Suleiman continued to hold onto the interior ministry portfolio which Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is demanding as part of his share in the cabinet.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s sources told As Safir daily that the speaker stressed to Miqati during their meeting on Wednesday to speed up the government formation process. However, Miqati’s sources said no major progress was made in solving the deadlock over the interior ministry.

House Speaker Nabih Berri held talks on Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on the process of forming a new government.

The meeting, held at Ain al-Tineh in the presence of the speaker’s political adviser MP Ali Hasan Khalil, also addressed local and regional developments.

This week should be decisive for Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati’s attempts to form a new government, Speaker Nabih Berri told the English-language The Daily Star newspaper.

“This week will be decisive. It will see the beginning of the final stage of the birth of the new government,” Berri said in the remarks published Tuesday.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s cabinet formation efforts were in tatters on Monday after the Free Patriotic Movement suggested giving up its demands for the interior ministry in return for getting the finance portfolio.

“We were at first demanding the finance portfolio but we met the demands to keep it with the Sunni sect and suggested getting the interior (ministry) instead,” Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil told As Safir daily in remarks published Monday.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism on Monday on the formation of the government, saying he will facilitate Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s mission by allowing him to choose the Development and Liberation bloc’s ministers.

“We have moved to the stage of resolving (the deadlock) and reaching the expected solution,” Berri told An Nahar daily.