Suleiman, Salam to Hold Crucial Meeting over Cabinet
President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam are scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on Wednesday to resolve the dispute on the new government.
An Nahar daily quoted sources as saying that Wednesday will be decisive in breaking the ten-month stalemate.
The March 14 alliance is accusing Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun of bringing the consultations on the cabinet formation to a standstill.
Aoun has rejected the rotation of portfolios, which has received the backing of the rest of the factions, and held onto the energy ministry led by his son-in-law Jebran Bassil.
Saniora, who met with al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri this week, discussed the impasse with former Minister Khalil Hrawi, who is Suleiman's envoy, an informed source told al-Liwaa daily.
The 90-minute meeting held on Tuesday focused on ways to resolve the obstacles of the interior and defense portfolios, the source said.
Al-Joumhouria said that a proposal has been made to grant the FPM the interior ministry portfolio in return for Aoun giving up the energy ministry.
Aoun reacted positively to the suggestion but needed more time to study what ministries would be part of his share after a previous proposal to give the FPM the foreign ministry portfolio.
But al-Liwaa's source ruled out any solution to the cabinet crisis in the coming two days pending scheduled speeches by Hariri on Friday and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday.
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