Speaking on Liberation Day, Speaker of the House Nabih Berri called on all political parties to remove obstacles to the formation of a new cabinet. He thus estimated that some would have deliberately “create crises” intentionally or unintentionally which could lead to the overthrow of traditional political parties.
He was alluding to the current crisis between the presidency of the Republic and Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri, and the delay in forming a new government while Lebanon is going through an economic crisis of a magnitude unknown in its contemporary history.
Nabih Berri thus recalled the current priorities, calling for the constitution of a secular state because of the problems posed by political confessionalism, the abolition of monopolies “to ensure the subsistence of the people and release bank deposits”, the separation of judicial power of political interference and the fight against corruption as well as the forensic audit of the accounts of the Bank of Lebanon and public institutions and the regulation of the current crisis, described as 100% internal.
He thus called on everyone to sacrifice “for the good of Lebanon and not to sacrifice Lebanon to the detriment of personal interests.”
A country without a government as the economic crisis hits it hard
Lebanon has been without government since the resignation, on August 10, of outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab.
The formation of a new government is considered as one of the preconditions for the relaunch of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund in order to obtain the release of financial aid from the international community in the face of the economic crisis that Lebanon is going through.
Following Mustafa Adib’s failure to form a cabinet, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who resigned following major protests in October 2019, was tasked with forming a new government in October 2020.
In an attempt to unblock the situation, the former prime minister promised the Amal movement to allocate the portfolio of the finance ministry to a member of the Shiite community. He also reiterated that Lebanon could do without a state of default, thus denying the gravity of the economic crisis however experienced by the population, with 55% of it now living below the poverty line while the economic recession has reached 29% according to some reports for the year 2020.
However, Saad Hariri’s proposals for an 18-member cabinet clash with the Presidency of the Republic, who points out that if the Shiite and Sunni communities choose their representatives, the Christian representatives in the new cabinet would also be chosen by the former. designated minister. General Aoun de facto considers that the current proposals of the Prime Minister contravene both the Lebanese constitution and the national pact.
The latter, for his part, accuses the head of state of wanting to obtain a blocking third party within his new cabinet.
