Aoun Seeks Confirmation that Cabinet Deal is Final before Giving Miqati List of Candidates

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stressed that the Change and Reform bloc wants a confirmation from Premier-designate Najib Miqati that a deal on the cabinet makeup was final before giving him a list of names of its candidates for the new cabinet.

Bassil, who is Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun’s son-in-law, told An Nahar daily published Tuesday that the bloc “is waiting for the final confirmation of the agreement reached” between the different parties.

“The latest media reports have once again stirred doubts about the seriousness of the deal,” he said.

About reports that Aoun and Miqati are bickering over the FPM chief’s conditions, Bassil said: “Since day one of negotiations, PM-designate Miqati wants the names.”

“We have told him that the names would be presented (to him) at the last stage. We want first to make sure that the agreement is final and there is no turning back,” he told An Nahar.

Al-Liwaa newspaper quoted Change and Reform bloc parliamentary sources as saying that if Miqati wants to speed up the formation of the cabinet, he should agree to Aoun’s conditions.

Miqati “doesn’t have the right to put vetoes on certain names and hint that he can’t approve names that MP Aoun wants to keep at the head of their caretaking ministries,” the sources said in reference to the FPM chief’s insistence to keep Telecom Minister Charbel Nahhas in his post.

“Aoun is not ready to give up his conditions under any circumstance,” they told al-Liwaa.

Asked about Miqati’s alleged rejection to bring back Nahhas to the telecommunications ministry, FPM sources told al-Akhbar daily that neither Aoun nor mediators were informed about such a stance.

Meanwhile, An Nahar said that Miqati held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Monday.