Report: Cabinet Delay Attributed to ‘Lack of Serious Criteria’
The hurdles delaying the formation of Lebanon’s government are reportedly attributed to the “lack” of a serious criteria that should have been resolved in the first meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri after the latter’s designation, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.
A “prominent” parliamentary source told the daily that a number of “discrepancies” linger between the two parties concerned with the formation process, hinting at the groups close to Aoun and Hariri.
According to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity, Aoun and Hariri should have agreed on a specific criteria to line up the cabinet. He said it might have thwarted the obstacles.
“There is no criteria in distributing ministries among sects, nor about political or parliamentary blocs that will name the ministers, also there is no criteria about the rotation of portfolios, which seems inapplicable,” he said.
He also pointed out to the insistence of the Shiite community to retain the Finance Ministry portfolio, and the reservations expressed mainly by the Free Patriotic Movement.
“We should not overlook the fact that the issue of assigning the Ministry of Finance to a Shiite figure named by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, is still a subject of great reservations for the president and his (FPM) team," he said.
Source: Naharnet
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