Cabinet Discussions Move to Next Stage as Bassil Unveils ‘Initial’ Deal on 30-Member Cabinet

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil unveiled that agreement has been reached between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and the March 8 forces to form a 30-member cabinet but stressed that the Free Patriotic Movement is insisting on forming a government made up of 32 ministers.

“There is an agreement on an initial 30-member government formula that allows us to move to the next stage,” Bassil told An Nahar daily in remarks published Thursday.

“But we still insist on a 32-member cabinet to represent minority Christians,” the FPM official said.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that discussions between Miqati and March 8 officials haven’t yet reached the stage of names but the primary deal paves way for more consultations aimed at forming the new cabinet.

High-ranking political sources told An Nahar that Bassil met with the assistants of the speaker and the Hizbullah leader respectively MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein Khalil on Wednesday to discuss the formula.

But Miqati remained mum on the efforts made to form the cabinet. He reportedly stressed to his visitors that he was seeking for a “balanced government” made up of independents and March 8 parties.

“The cabinet would be eventually formed,” An Nahar quoted him as saying. But his circles told As Safir daily that the prime minister-designate doesn’t expect the government to be formed anytime soon.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said that Miqati’s brother Taha visited Damascus to discuss with the Syrian leadership ways to speed up the cabinet formation process. Caretaker Minister Ghazi Aridi also visited the Syrian capital as National Struggle Front leader Walid Jumblat’s envoy.

While Miqati and March 8 forces continue to deny that Damascus is meddling in the premier-designate’s task, former Premier Omar Karami told An Nahar that “the green light hasn’t come yet.”

Although he refused to reveal its “source,” Karami seemed to be hinting that Syria hasn’t yet Okayed the new lineup.

He stressed that his party won’t accept a state ministry. “We want a portfolio,” the ex-prime minister said about his demand to give a seat to his son Faisal.