Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Wednesday that the FPM “will facilitate the government formation process” and that it will not insist on retaining the energy portfolio.
“We have not asked the PM-designate for anything in the governmental issue, we’re ready to help and in our opinion the government must represent the parliamentary forces through experts,” Bassil added, following his bloc’s talks with PM-designate Nawaf Salam during the non-binding parliamentary consultations for forming a new government.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held a meeting Wednesday at the Baabda Palace with President Joseph Aoun.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam on Wednesday began two-day non-binding consultations with MPs for forming a new government, amid a boycott by the parliamentary blocs of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, known in Lebanon as the Shiite Duo.

French leader Emmanuel Macron is due to visit Lebanon on Friday, both countries said, in the second such trip by a head of state since Lebanon elected a president last week.

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam’s non-binding parliamentary consultations for forming a new government will be held in parliament on Wednesday and Thursday , Parliament’s Secretariat-General said.
Salam will meet with the parliamentary blocs on Wednesday from 10:00 am until around 6:00 pm and will meet with the independent MPs on Thursday from 10:00 am until around 6:45 pm, the Secretariat-General said in a statement.

Higher Islamic Shiite Council leader Sheikh Ali al-Khatib on Tuesday called for “consolidating national unity and building the state upon citizenship and equality among citizens,” during a meeting in Baabda with President Joseph Aoun.

President Joseph Aoun noted Tuesday that “Shiites are not the only ones threatened, but rather entire Lebanon,” reiterating that “if one of us loses, we all lose.”
“We have very big opportunities that we must seize together and there is no time to waste,” Aoun told a delegation from the Higher Islamic Shiite Council led by Sheikh Ali al-Khatib.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that his bloc voted for Nawaf Salam in the binding consultations to pick a new PM due to his “reformist characteristics” and “the presence of consensus over him.”

Lebanon's new prime minister pledged Tuesday to extend state authority over all Lebanese soil after a November ceasefire ended a war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Nawaf Salam, in his first speech, said he would "extend the authority of the Lebanese state across all its territory" and "work seriously to completely implement U.N. resolution 1701" calling for Hezbollah to withdraw from south Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has responded to the remarks that MP Mohammad Raad voiced Monday at the Baabda Palace, saying there was no “exclusion” in the designation of Nawaf Salam as premier.
