Cold shower this evening concerning the file relating to the formation of the next government, with the words of a person close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri who indicates that the latter does not wish to see the president of the Free Patriotic Current Gebran Bassil.
Such a meeting, according to him, would not lead to any result, estimates this source which rather calls on Gébran Bassil to abandon his claims in favor of a blocking third party.
This information comes as the president of the chamber Nabih Berri and the former deputy Walid Joumblatt launched an initiative calling for the formation of a government of 24 members without blocking third parties, a proposal accepted by the presidency of the republic but that would refuse the prime minister-designate, sources say, who still prefers to form an 18-member government.
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.
