The government formation process has entered a decisive phase as Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib is expected Thursday to either present a draft Cabinet lineup or step down amid a lingering dispute over who gets the key Finance Ministry, an official source said Wednesday.
France, which is emerging as the main power broker in Lebanon following last month’s deadly explosion in Beirut, has intensified its contacts with Lebanese players in an eleventh-hour attempt to break the Cabinet deadlock after Adib missed a 15-day deadline set by French President Emmanuel Macron for the formation of a new government.
Despite the gloomy Cabinet outlook, France said it is still not too late to form a new government.
Adib is set to meet with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace at 11 a.m. Thursday as part of their consultations to form a new government made up of specialists who can work on implementing urgent reforms to extract the country from the worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.
The crisis has been aggravated by the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut Port, caused by the detonation of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrates, which left large swaths of the capital in ruins, killed at least 192 people, injured thousands, left 300,000 people homeless and caused losses worth billions of dollars.
“Tomorrow [Thursday] promises to be a decisive day for the Cabinet crisis. Adib will either present Aoun with a draft Cabinet lineup of independent specialists if differences over the Finance Ministry are resolved, or step down,” the official source told The Daily Star.
“Contacts are ongoing between Paris and Beirut in an attempt to reach a compromise to resolve the Cabinet dilemma on the basis of either offering the Shiite duo [Amal Movement and Hezbollah] a sovereign ministry other than the Finance Ministry, or naming a Shiite candidate for the Finance portfolio who will be acceptable to the two Shiite groups,” the source said.
Aoun’s consultations in the past two days with heads of parliamentary blocs on the Cabinet formation clearly indicated that the Amal Movement and Hezbollah remained adamant on retaining hold on the Finance Ministry, and also on choosing potential Shiite ministers in the new Cabinet.
The Cabinet formation efforts have been bogged down by insistence by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, backed by Hezbollah, that the Shiite sect retain the Finance Ministry, and differences over Adib’s proposal for a rotation among the country’s leading political parties of the four sovereign ministries: the Finance, Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs portfolios. Berri’s tough stance on the Cabinet formation emerged after the United States last week slapped sanctions on his top political aide, former Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil.
A political source said the Amal Movement and Hezbollah remained unyielding on their demand for retaining hold on the Finance Ministry.
“Speaker Berri will not budge come what may on retaining the Finance Ministry to the Shiite sect. He also wants to have a say in choosing a Shiite candidate for the Finance Ministry,” the source told The Daily Star. He added that contacts were ongoing among Lebanese factions to clear the way for the formation of a new government by the end of the week.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Wednesday weighed in on the Cabinet crisis, stressing that the Finance Ministry was not anyone’s exclusive right, taking aim at Amal and Hezbollah, which insist on retaining the ministry.
“The Finance Ministry and other ministerial portfolios are not the exclusive right of any sect,” Hariri said in a tweet.
Hariri, who along with three former premiers had nominated Adib for the premiership, added that the refusal to rotate key ministries was frustrating the “last chance to save Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
Berri claimed over the weekend that it was the “norm” for the finance minister to be from the Shiite sect, even though multiple Sunnis and Maronites have held the position in the past, with a Shiite holding the position since 2014.
France, which has been exerting pressure on Lebanon’s political leaders to quickly form a new Cabinet, said Wednesday it regretted that Lebanese politicians have failed to fulfill their promise of forming a new government within two weeks of Macron’s visit to Beirut, but added that it was still not too late.
"France regrets that Lebanese political leaders have not managed to keep the commitments made to President Macron on Sept. 1, 2020, according to the announced timeframe," an Elysee Palace official told Reuters.
During Macron’s second visit to Beirut on Sept. 1, leading Lebanese politicians had promised to form a new government within two weeks, but as complications arose over the weekend on key issues such as the rotation of sovereign ministries among certain political parties, and Berri’s insistence that the Finance Ministry be reserved for the Shiite sect, the process hit a wall.
As the deadline passed Tuesday evening, no positive political developments were reported but behind-the-scenes deliberations continued.
"It is not yet too late: Everyone must assume their responsibilities and finally act in the sole interest of Lebanon by allowing Mustapha Adib to form a government that is up to the seriousness of the situation,” the official told Reuters.
Forming a new government was the second step -- the first being appointing a new prime minister -- of the French initiative spearheaded by Macron to put Lebanon on the a path of reforms to eventually be able to unlock desperately needed financial assistance.
Macron has described his initiative, which includes a road map and a timetable for reforms, as "the last chance for this system."
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt, who has supported the French initiative, said it appeared some did not understand that French-led efforts to get Lebanon out of crisis were the last chance to save the country.
"It appears that some did not understand or did not want to understand that the French initiative is the last chance to save Lebanon and to prevent its disappearance, as the (French) foreign minister said clearly," Joumblatt wrote on Twitter.
Joumblatt, currently visiting Paris, also appeared to criticize Adib, who has been blamed by some factions for not consulting with them on the Cabinet formation.
“Senior parties returned to the game of sharing of [political spoils] and introducing new norms without contacting anyone. This is led by new amateurs in the [political] arena,” he added. Joumblatt also criticized US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent statement on Lebanon.
Pompeo Tuesday warned France that its efforts to resolve the crisis in Lebanon would be in vain without immediately tackling the issue of Hezbollah's weaponry.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
