Speaker Nabih Berri said that the cabinet led by PM Najib Miqati is promising. He stressed the importance of exerting efforts to intensify the government’s weekly meetings so that citizens would feel the difference.

As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday that Berri suggested that the cabinet should hold a special session to highlight the basis and the principles that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel should follow while drafting the elections law.

A decree was issued on Monday allowing the parliament to hold extraordinary sessions starting August 1.

Speaker Nabih Berri told As Safir newspaper that he will call on holding a parliamentary session next month.

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that he supports President Michel Suleiman’s announcement that he would re-launch the national dialogue, stressing the importance of all-party talks to “avoid all kinds of problems and disputes.”

“I am ready to participate again in the national dialogue… it plays a major role in calming people down and renders communication (between different parties easy),” Berri told As Safir newspaper.

President Michel Suleiman is throwing a dinner banquet on Saturday in Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s honor on the occasion of his visit of the region of Jbeil, reported the daily An Nahar Saturday.

Speaker Nabih Berri, his deputy Farid Makari, Prime Minister Najib Miqati his deputy Samir Moqbel, Papal Ambassador Gabriele Caccia, and a number of ministers, MPs, and heads of Christian parties, including Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun are also invited.

A source close to Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that the sectarian identity of the director-general of the General Security Department has been settled.

The source told As Safir daily published Friday that the proposed candidate for the post is respected by all parties. He denied that there is objection to the confessional nature of the post or the name of Brig. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly suggested giving the leadership of the General Security Department to a Maronite in return for appointing a Shiite as Army chief.

Al-Liwaa daily said Tuesday that Berri’s proposal came after the Free Patriotic Movement expressed the desire to return the seat of the General Security’s presidency to the Maronite sect rather than keeping it with Shiites.

Speaker Nabih Berri said he would help the cabinet in its mission to deal with the people’s affairs and make administrative appointments to posts in state institutions.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar daily published Friday, Berri said: “The mission of this government lies in launching a workshop, dealing with the people’s affairs and making appointments.”

During the fourth parliamentary debate session on the new government’s Policy Statement, Speaker Nabih Berri voiced alarm over the angry exchanges among some lawmakers.

Addressing MPs, Berri said: “The remarks we have been hearing highlight the fact that this country needs a real reconciliation and you are responsible about this reconciliation before the public opinion.”

March 14 circles did not rule out on Wednesday the return of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon to make a surprise appearance at the parliament sessions aimed at discussing the government policy statement.

They told the Central News Agency that his attendance will grant the opposition political support during the session to grant cabinet confidence.

MPs Assem Qanso and Khaled al-Daher engaged in verbal attacks at parliament on Wednesday after the latter criticized the support provided by some Lebanese politicians to the Assad regime in its crackdown on protestors in Syria.

The two lawmakers would have engaged in a fistfight hadn’t other MPs prevented them from attacking each other.