No major progress has taken place on the front of the formation of a new government as the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Nabih Berri wishes to propose new solutions.
Nabih Berri would thus support the proposal of the former deputy Walid Joumblatt who wants the next cabinet to be composed of 24 members and no longer of 18 members, including 8 affiliated with the Presidency of the Republic and the Free Patriotic Movement, 8 with the duo Hezbollah and Amal and 8 to Prime Minister Designate Saad Hariri, thus ruling out any possibility of veto rights.
Walid Joumblatt would have already proposed this solution during a meeting with the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, last week. The latter would also have stressed the need to conduct a forensic audit of the accounts of the Bank of Lebanon and to continue the fight against corruption.
However, Saad Hariri would like to form an 18-member government and should therefore refuse this compromise, sources close to him indicate.
Still on the political level, the weekend was marked by still brutal exchanges between Courant du Futur and Courant Patriotique Libre. Gébran Bassil thus accused the Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri of wanting to isolate the Presidency of the Republic, thus responding to the accusations of the office of the Prime Minister designate which accused him of wanting to obtain a third veto within the next cabinet.
In addition, Saad Hariri also went to the Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Rahi to ask him to attempt a mediation between him and the presidency. The meeting was described as positive, said a media source.
