Report: March 8 Leaders Planning to Meet to Turn EDL Crisis Page

Top March 8 majority alliance leaders might hold a meeting after their relations were threatened over the crisis of Electricite du Liban contract workers, the coalition’s leadership sources said.

The sources told As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the possibility of holding such a meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is under discussion.

Relations between Berri and Aoun reached an all-time low in the past months over the bickering on parliament’s approval to make the EDL contract workers full-time employees.

But the draft-law remained in the drawers of parliament’s secretariat after Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc and Christians MPs from other parliamentary blocs criticized the decision for leading to the underrepresentation of Christians in the public sector.

The majority of the contract workers are Shiites and supporters of Berri.

The rift between the speaker and Aoun also grew after the Change and Reform bloc accused Berri of violating the protocol during the voting process and disregarding a proposal made by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law.

Aoun’s camp also accused Hizbullah of being a bystander rather than supporting it.

The crisis ended on Friday however after a deal was struck between Hizbullah, Berri’s Amal movement and the FPM.

While Aoun hoped the new agreement would open a new page with Berri, the speaker’s sources told As Safir that despite all his reservations, he was convinced that his strategic political alliance with Aoun was not under threat.

Berri said the alliance between them is in the interest of the resistance and the preservation of civil peace.

Change and Reform MP Ibrahim Kanaan also stressed to As Safir that the FPM is keen on its ties with Berri and Hizbullah.