Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas informed Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun about his intention to resign after refusing to sign the transportation allowance decree, media reports said on Tuesday.

Nahhas informed Aoun about his decision to allow the FPM chief to study his options and discuss the issue during the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc meeting on Tuesday afternoon, OTV, mouthpiece of the Free Patriotic Movement, reported.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Nabil de Freij stressed on Monday that the cabinet should have acted swiftly concerning Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ refusal to sign the transportation allowance decree and “withdrawn confidence” from him.

“The cabinet didn’t take so far a decision regarding Nahhas’ behavior while it should have taken a firm decision against him and maybe withdrawn its confidence,” de Freij told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).

Prime Minister Najib Miqati maintained a steady position regarding the suspension of the cabinet sessions if Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas doesn’t add his signature to the transportation allowance decree approved by the government, according to local newspapers published on Monday.

“The cabinet will not accept to discuss the issue before minister Nahhas (who is loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun) signs the decree,” Miqati’s sources told An Nahar newspaper on Monday.

Sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas would sign a controversial transportation allowances decree before a parliamentary session scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

The sources told An Nahar and As Safir dailies on Monday that Nahhas could sign the decree in the next few days, paving way for parliament to approve it and allowing the cabinet to annex it to a recent wage hike.

Discussions over the transportation allowance may be postponed until after Wednesday’s parliamentary session should political powers fail to reach a solution for the dispute, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s sources told the daily however that they expect the transportation allowance bill to be signed before Wednesday.

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan stated that his proposal on the transportation allowance provides the basis for a long-term solution, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

He told the daily: “My suggestion is more comprehensive than Mustaqbal MP Nabil de Freij’s and it also proposes that the allowance does not have to be part of the employee’s wage.”

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that he hasn’t launched a new initiative to resolve the cabinet crisis but sources have said that he discussed with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun ways to find a solution to the controversial transportation allowance that was at the origin of the government’s deadlock.

Berri hinted to As Safir daily on Saturday that he isn’t making any mediation between Aoun and Premier Najib Miqati, who suspended cabinet sessions on Feb. 1 after he bickered with ministers loyal to the FPM chief and accused them of hindering the government’s work.

U.S. State Department special coordinator on Middle East affairs Frederick Hof’s brief visit to Lebanon focused on Lebanon’s oil and gas wealth and its attempts to drill for them in the Mediterranean, political sources told the Central News Agency on Friday.

They added that he was impressed by Lebanon’s thorough evaluation of the file, especially the army’s assessment of the issue, which it supported with all the necessary documents.

Speaker Nabih Berri held talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in Ain el-Tineh on Friday, two days after meeting with Premier Najib Miqati who is at loggerheads with the FPM chief.

The National News Agency said that Berri and Aoun discussed the latest developments.

A Cypriot foreign ministry official, tasked with following up the natural resources issue with Lebanese authorities, held talks with a number of senior officials during an undisclosed visit to Beirut.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Friday, the result of the visit was described as “positive.”