Ministers Loyal to Aoun Mulling Participation in Cabinet Next on Monday
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Change and Reform bloc ministers are thinking over whether to participate in a cabinet session that is scheduled to be held at Baabda palace on Monday, following their boycott of two other meetings over a dispute on the full-time employment of Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.
By Saturday, the 10 ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun hadn’t announced their participation in the session that Premier Najib Miqati called for to discuss the latest security incidents, the murder attempt against MP Butros Harb, including the telecom data, and the 2012 draft state budget.
Parliament’s endorsement of the EDL workers’ bill last Monday caused a March 8 coalition rift between the FPM on one side and Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement on the other.
The draft-law’s approval led Christian lawmakers from both the March 8 and March 14 alliances to boycott the second day of the parliamentary session after they claimed that the employment of the workers would lead to the underrepresentation of Christians in state institutions.
The dispute also led to the suspension of the two cabinet sessions this week.
Sources close to Miqati justified the premier’s call for Monday’s session despite the failure to resolve the row with the FPM ministers by saying he had to invite for a cabinet meeting in his responsible position to deal with the security situation that is threatening the country.
The sources expressed confidence that the ministers loyal to Aoun would not boycott the Baabda session.
Sources close to President Michel Suleiman made similar comments to An Nahar, saying the government has important work to finish.
07 July 2012, 14:53
01
No. They have to meet. A bad nunfunctioning cabinet is still better than no cabinet. They have to go in. present their ideas about the EDL contractuals, discuss and negotiate with the berri character. and stay meeting until they reach a solution that is acceptable. The europeans stayed until 4am to find a solution to the latest crisis. Let our leaders sit and negotiate until they fix the problem. They cant afford to be politicians if their attention span is 30 minutes.
They have to stop running away from the problem like school kids.
07 July 2012, 16:38
00
What mulling over, if Hassan orders Aoun to participate they will participate, if Hassan does not say anything to Aoun they will not participate then Aoun can brag how independent he is. The cases of Charbel Nahhas and Abbas Ibrahim are just two instances confirming this.
07 July 2012, 20:04
20
ghasib 3ala rakbiton and da3is 3ala rakbiton they will come back to the government, otherwise hizbullah/iran/syria will cut their money proceeds and the ministers will not be able to steal government money if they sat at home or if they resigned. so... as the illiterate fpm supporters dellusionally claim "aoun is restoring the christian rights" yes he sure is!
