Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel defended the call of the March 14 opposition for the formation of a new government, saying the cabinet of Premier Najib Miqati collapsed at the national level.

“The current government collapsed nationally before its collapse constitutionally,” Gemayel told An Nahar daily published Sunday. “This collapse manifested through its birth, structure and performance.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati's visit to Paris is still being discussed between Lebanese and French authorities after several local newspapers reported that the premier's visit to the French capital is being reconsidered due to French President Francois Hollande's “surprise” visit to Beirut on Sunday.

“No date has been scheduled yet to Miqati's visit to Paris,” the premier's office said on Saturday in comments to Naharnet.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati questioned on Saturday the March 14-led opposition's decision to boycott parliament and government activity, wondering whether it was seeking to block the people's interests.

He said before his visitors: “Placing preconditions over resuming national dialogue, called for by President Michel Suleiman, means that some sides have clear intentions to take Lebanon towards further crises.”

French President Francois Hollande is expected to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday in a bid to emphasize France's support for President Michel Suleiman as the “national unity guardian”, as well to emphasize the necessity of dialogue among Lebanese factions, the daily An Nahar said Saturday.

Hollande's visit will last for three hours. He is keen to make this visit to express his country's support to Suleiman, whom France considers the “guardian of national unity,” the daily added.

Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh on Friday said one should not ask who killed Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan but rather who “betrayed” him.

“We must not ask who killed Wissam al-Hasan but rather who betrayed Wissam al-Hasan, and usually those who betray are the allies,” said Franjieh in an interview on al-Manar television.

President Michel Suleiman denounced on Friday the attack against security forces members in the border town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon, calling on armed forces to step up the security measures in the area.

“Whatever the reasons and the motives behind the incident... This act is never justified,” Suleiman said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi condemned on Friday political action aimed at achieving personal gains and obstructing the functioning of state institutions.

“The church condemns all political performance that is solely limited to achieving personal gains at the expense of the public interest and that aims at obstructing state institutions … in search for power,” al-Rahi said in his opening statement of a seminar held in Bkirki.

Calls for the change of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government coupled with attempts to avoid a vacuum brought on by a change of leadership have led to a conviction by the different political parties that the process should be slow, political and diplomatic sources said Friday.

Contacts between President Michel Suleiman and leaders of both the March 8 and March 14 coalitions in addition to western officials have been lately focusing on the “change of the government in a calm way so as not to affect Miqati's future,” the sources told al-Joumhouria daily.

French President Francois Hollande is set to arrive in Beirut on Sunday for a three-hour visit to meet with his Lebanese counterpart President Michel Suleiman, As Safir newspaper reported.

A diplomatic source told the newspaper published on Friday that the “significance of this visit is that it comes amid the delicate situation that Lebanon and the region are passing through.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday stressed that change requires “serious dialogue,” lauding President Michel Suleiman’s call for dialogue and saying it can provide an opportunity for “transition to a better political and economic period.”

During a meeting with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, the patriarch said the president's “call for dialogue remains the only way to exit the dangerous political crisis and put an end to its economic and social repercussions.”