Miqati Meets Berri: Cabinet Sessions Will Only Resume if Govt. Becomes Productive

Speaker Nabih Berri held talks on Monday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati as part of efforts to resolve the government crisis, reported the National News Agency.

Miqati said after the half-hour meeting: “If we are certain that cabinet will be productive, then we will resume cabinet sessions."

"I briefed Speaker Berri about all the impressions I have, and Speaker Berri is taking his time in carrying out his contacts," Miqati added.

Meanwhile, state-run National News Agency reported that Berri "has not been convinced until now that it is necessary for him to intervene."

Media reports have suggested that the speaker does not want to intervene to end the government crisis.

He told As Safir newspaper that he has not yet intervened to end the crisis because no one has asked him to do so and he “feels that the problem has been exaggerated.”

His visitors quoted him as saying that all political powers are expected to exert efforts to end the government dispute “in order to preserve the cabinet and the Lebanese people’s future.”

He explained that the reasons that have been presented over the suspension of the cabinet sessions are “not convincing”, which is why he is not eager to intervene in the dispute.

Miqati is expected to hold talks later on Monday with Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to follow up on electricity issues.

Sources from the meeting said that there were no contacts over resolving the government crisis.

They stressed that Miqati will maintain his position “because no side can impose an alternative to a constitutional solution to the crisis.”

The solution lies in revitalizing government work so that it will once again be productive, the premier’s sources told As Safir.

Miqati had met Bassil over dinner thrown by the head of the Economic Committees Adnan Kassar on Sunday.

Sources from the dinner denied to al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published on Monday that the meeting between the premier and the minister had addressed the government crisis.

On Wednesday, Miqati suspended a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace over an ongoing dispute over the issue of administrative appointments.

The suspension was prompted when Free Patriotic Movement ministers walked out from Wednesday’s session.

“The move is meant to push everyone to act responsibly and use their energy positively, towards the smooth run of state affairs not the opposite,” the prime minister said on his Twitter account on Wednesday.

A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun over shares allotted to Christians has prevented consensus over administrative appointments, leaving several high-ranking posts vacant.