Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Wednesday reaffirmed that the government he was striving to form would carry out reforms needed to halt the country’s economic collapse and rebuild Beirut following the massive Aug. 4 explosion that pulverized Beirut Port.
He stressed that his goal was not to become prime minister, nor to form just any government, but rather to stop the economic collapse and reconstruct Beirut after the port blast that damaged half of the capital, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands and caused billions of dollars in material damage.
أبلغت البطريرك الراعي أن الهدف ليس #تشكيل_الحكومة كيف ما كان أو أن أكون أنا رئيساً لها، إنما الهدف القيام بالإصلاحات وإعادة إعمار #بيروت. (١/٢)
— Saad Hariri (@saadhariri) December 16, 2020
Hariri spoke to reporters after a 45-minute meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai at the latter’s seat in Bkirki, north of Beirut, that focused on the Cabinet formation deadlock. The talks continued over a dinner hosted by Rai for the premier-designate.
“I informed his Beatitude the patriarch about the [Cabinet] lineup that I had presented to the president which consists of nonpartisan specialists who have integrity and competence and are capable of carrying out the agreed-upon reforms,” Hariri said. He was clearly referring to a string of key reforms contained in the French initiative to rescue Lebanon from multiple crises that was presented to Lebanon’s political leaders by French President Emmanuel Macron during his second visit to Lebanon on Sept. 1.
Hariri said he also told Rai that the goal was not to form just any government, nor for him me to become prime minister, but to stop the collapse and rebuild Beirut. “This goal can only be achieved through the implementation of the reforms we agreed on to restore the flow of funds to Lebanon,” he said.
Amid a growing political and judicial row over the ongoing investigations into the port blast, Hariri said: “On the subject of Beirut’s reconstruction, I assured the patriarch of our determination to know the truth. All the Lebanese, and first of all the victims and their families, have the right to know the full truth and responsibilities. In this context, no one will be covered, but things should happen in the full respect of the constitution and laws.”
Hariri’s remarks came as the Cabinet formation process has hit a dead-end days after he and President Michel Aoun aired their differences over the formation with each blaming the other for the delay in an unprecedented “war of words” that dashed hopes for the creation of a new government anytime soon.
A political source familiar with the Cabinet formation efforts said Wednesday Hariri was still waiting for Aoun’s final response a week after he presented his first draft Cabinet lineup since he was designated to form a new government on Oct. 22.
After submitting his Cabinet lineup to Aoun last Wednesday, Hariri sounded upbeat about forming a new government soon to deliver reforms and rescue Lebanon’s crumbling economy. But Hariri’s optimism has since faded by a counter-Cabinet proposal presented by Aoun to Hariri on the same day. The president’s unprecedented move was viewed as a rejection of the premier-designate’s proposed Cabinet made up of 18 nonpartisan specialists.
“Aoun has not officially rejected Hariri’s proposed Cabinet lineup. In his Cabinet proposal outlining the distribution of portfolios among various sects, Aoun demanded that political parties be represented in the new government. He also demanded a veto power,” the source told The Daily Star.
“Aoun’s demands effectively undermine Hariri’s proposed Cabinet lineup and entirely run counter to the French initiative which President Macron will seek to revive during his visit to Lebanon,” the source added.
While Hariri was waiting for Aoun’s response to his proposed Cabinet lineup, the president was also waiting for the premier-designate’s reply to his own proposal.
In the waiting game, there was no word Wednesday as to when Aoun and Hariri would meet again to try to iron out their differences over the names of potential ministers and the shape of a proposed 18-member Cabinet of nonpartisan experts desperately awaited by the Lebanese and the international community to carry out a string of structural reforms.
Implementation of long-overdue reforms is deemed essential to releasing billions of dollars in promised international aid to the cash-strapped country, which is facing an economic meltdown and a collapsing currency that has lost more than 80 percent of its value since last year, putting half of the 6 million population below the poverty line.
An exchange of statements issued by their media offices Monday reflected tensions and a wide gap between Aoun and Hariri over the shape and makeup of the next government.
In a statement issued by his media office, Hariri disclosed that Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement headed by MP Gebran Bassil demanded a veto power in the next government. Hariri, who staunchly rejects granting any party a veto power in the next government, implicitly blamed, Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law, for the obstruction of the Cabinet formation. Hariri also disclosed that Aoun wanted a government in which all political parties are represented, which runs contrary to the premier-designate’s decision to exclude representatives of those parties.
The presidency’s media office struck back, accusing Hariri of unilaterally naming ministers, especially Christian ministers, without an agreement with the president. It also accused Hariri of not adopting unified criteria in the distribution of portfolios.
With no sign of a solution to the Cabinet crisis, popular and political attention is focused on Macron’s new visit in the hope that it would achieve a breakthrough in the weekslong standoff.
Macron is scheduled to visit Beirut on Dec. 22-23, marking his third trip to the crises-stricken country since the port disaster.
Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since Aug. 10 when then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government resigned in the aftermath of the port explosion, although it stayed on in a caretaker capacity.
The stalled Cabinet formation process was further compounded by a widening political backlash that carried a sectarian tinge to charges filed last week by lead investigator in the port blast Judge Fadi Sawwan against Diab and three former ministers for negligence in the port disaster. The country’s top Sunni political and religious leaders, including Hariri, rallied behind Diab, accusing Sawwan of targeting the premier's position for political purposes.
Macron was the first foreign leader to visit Beirut two days after the port blast. Following the blast, Macron led efforts to get Lebanese politicians to agree on a new government to enact reforms. But Lebanese leaders have failed to deliver reforms.
In addition to inspecting French troops serving with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, Macron was expected to meet again with Lebanon’s rival political leaders to press them to agree on the swift formation of a “mission” government to enact reforms.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah was reported to be mediating in the row between Aoun and Hariri in an attempt to speed up the formation of a new government.
“Some local parties, including Hezbollah, are making behind-the-scene contacts in a bid to reconcile the conflicting views of President Aoun and Prime Minister Hariri with the aim of accelerating the Cabinet formation ahead of President Macron’s visit to Lebanon,” an official source told The Daily Star. “Whether this mediation makes a headway in the Cabinet formation deadlock remains to be seen,” the source said.
Officials of Hezbollah, a key ally of Aoun and the FPM, which had been blamed by Hariri for obstructing the government formation, could not be reached to comment on the reported mediation efforts between the president and the premier-designate.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
