Ex-Premiers in Lebanon Reject Nasrallah’s Accusation They Are Forming a 'Small Cabinet'

Published October 1st, 2020 - 06:03 GMT
Hezbullah's Secretary General Sayed Hasan Nasrallah  (Twitter)
Hezbullah's Secretary General Sayed Hasan Nasrallah (Twitter)
Highlights
In a televised speech Tuesday, Nasrallah said Hezbollah was still committed to the French initiative on forming a government tasked with carrying out long-overdue reforms, but that he would not accept “bullying” in the government formation process.

Four former premiers Wednesday struck back at Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, rejecting his accusation that they were forming a small Cabinet of independent specialists in lieu of Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib.

In a joint statement, Saad Hariri, Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam accused Nasrallah of setting conditions for his party’s participation in the new government and for other political parties to name their representatives in various ministries. This, they said, ran contrary to the French initiative that called for the formation of a small non-partisan Cabinet of experts to enact reforms.

“The French initiative, which constituted the only opportunity to try to halt Lebanon’s collapse, was founded on the need to suspend anything that is related to traditional internal politics and the issue of the blocs’ and parties’ competition [for ministerial portfolios] for a few months, whereby the main parliamentary blocs agree on a small rescue government of efficient specialists not named by the parties to implement a purely economic, financial, monetary and administrative reformist program,” the four ex-premiers said. They added that the program had been designed to open the scope in the first three months for restoring confidence and bringing back foreign financing to the crises-ridden country.

Referring to Nasrallah’s accusation that the four ex-premiers were forming the new Cabinet on behalf of Adib, the statement said: “What Sayyed Nasrallah called the ‘club of the four former premiers’ did not form the Cabinet in lieu of Prime Minister Adib, nor did it impose any name or portfolio in it. Its role was confined to ensuring a cover in a transparent and clear manner to implement what parliamentary blocs agreed upon at the Pine Palace after they agreed on naming the premier-designate.”

This was a reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting Sept. 1 with Lebanon’s political leaders at the Pine Palace – the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon – during which they agreed on the formation of a small non-partisan Cabinet made up of specialists to enact reforms.

The four ex-premiers said their role did not seek to impose any “tutelage” on the premiership, but stemmed from the calls made by the majority of the Lebanese who were in conformity with the French initiative on the need to set up “a Cabinet of independents away from the sharing of spoils and partisan and political allegiance.”

Adib, who was nominated by the four ex-prime ministers for the premiership, stepped aside Saturday after his attempts to pull together a small Cabinet of non-partisan experts to deliver reforms foundered on insistence by the two main Shiite groups, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah, on retaining hold of the Finance Ministry. The two groups also insisted on naming t Shiite members of the new Cabinet, which runs contrary to Adib’s intention to select members of his Cabinet by himself.

In a televised speech Tuesday, Nasrallah said Hezbollah was still committed to the French initiative on forming a government tasked with carrying out long-overdue reforms, but that he would not accept “bullying” in the government formation process.

Nasrallah rejected Macron’s accusations that Hezbollah and Amal were responsible for scuttling the formation of a new government. Instead, he blamed the parties that placed conditions on the naming of ministers and portfolios they are assigned.

“We were not trying to bring the government formation to a halt; on the contrary, we were trying to make it easier,” he said. “The French reform paper does not include a government of 14 ministers, a rotation of portfolios or the naming of ministers.”

Nasrallah took aim at the four ex-premiers, saying that they were trying to exploit Macron’s initiative. “Where are the independent candidates and how are those ministers named? Hariri is the head of a party. Mikati is the head of a party. Siniora is part of a party,” he said. Nasrallah emphasized that Hezbollah was committed to participating in the next government because of his party’s “worry and concern about the country and the people."

The four ex-premiers said Nasrallah in his speech reviewed the conditions he set for the formation of the next government. “In short, the Hezbollah secretary-general wants a government in which his party is represented and in which [political] parties name their representatives in various ministries. This prescription completely conformed with what happened upon the formation of the resigned government [of caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab], which led to the clear-cult results that the Lebanese are seeing every day with their eyes, and which essentially evoked a thankful initiative from President Macron in a last-ditch attempt to halt the collapse.”

Referring to Nasrallah’s warning in his speech that the International Monetary Fund might impose tough conditions on Lebanon in return for a $10 billion bailout program to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis in decades, the four ex-premiers accused the Hezbollah leader of “undermining the French initiative in its economic and financial contents with his own approaches to the IMF and economic and financial reforms.”

The four ex-premiers reaffirmed their keenness on national unity among the Lebanese as well as their commitment to the French initiative and Macron’s “great role in insisting on pursuing the initiative to help save Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, despite assurances that the French initiative to rescue Lebanon was still in force, local players have failed to make any moves that could help achieve a breakthrough in the weekslong Cabinet deadlock, dimming hopes for the quick formation of a new government that can deliver reforms.

“President Macron has assured the Lebanese that the French initiative to save their country is still intact. Now, it’s the turn of Lebanese factions to act in line with the French initiative to facilitate the formation of a new government after Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib decided to step down,” a political source familiar with the Cabinet formation process told The Daily Star Wednesday.

The source said that the first move to break the Cabinet logjam should be taken by President Michel Aoun in order to name a new prime minister.

It was not clear as to when Aoun would begin binding consultations with parliamentary blocs to name a new prime minister.

“President Aoun has not yet decided on whether to confer first with parliamentary blocs to reach a consensus on a new prime minister before setting a date for the binding consultations to name a candidate to form a new government,” a source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star Tuesday.

The lack of progress in the Cabinet stalemate raised fears that attempts to form a new government could drag on until after the Nov. 3 US presidential election.

Subsequently, a prolonged Cabinet impasse at a time when Lebanon is in the throes of its worst economic and financial crunch since the 1975-90 Civil War threatens to have grave consequences for the country’s crumbling economy, in addition to delaying desperately needed international aid to the crises-stricken nation.

In his press conference Sunday, Macron accused Lebanon's political leaders of “collective betrayal” over their failure to form a new government, but he gave them another four to six weeks to implement a road map proposed by France to bring the country back from the verge of chaos.

Under the French road map presented by Macron to Lebanon’s political leaders during his visit to Beirut Sept. 1, the new government would carry out reforms and take measures to fight endemic corruption, curb waste of public funds and overhaul the country’s ailing electricity sector, which bleeds the cash-strapped state Treasury around $2billion annually.

This article has been adapted from its original source.     

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