Date: May 30, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Hariri: Regional crises heighten need to form Cabinet quickly Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Tuesday appeared to be unfazed by parliamentary blocs’ conflicting demands for key ministerial portfolios, saying he was optimistic that a new government would be formed “very fast.” Hariri spoke to reporters after meeting with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace to brief him on the results of his all-day consultations the day before with parliamentary blocs and independent MPs on the size and shape of the new government. After attending an iftar Tuesday night, Hariri left for Saudi Arabia for a few days’ visit, a statement from the premier-designate’s media office said. A political source said Hariri was expected to meet with senior Saudi officials to discuss the formation of a Cabinet following Lebanon’s parliamentary polls earlier this month. Speaker Nabih Berri said attempts to form the new government would move into a higher gear following Hariri’s return from Saudi Arabia. “Serious negotiations to form the government are taking place behind the scenes,” visitors to Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence quoted the speaker as saying. “Statements ... so far indicate that there is a raised ceiling [of demands] and several hurdles facing the Cabinet formation. But let’s wait to see how things will end later,” he added. In a speech at the iftar he hosted Tuesday night for Dar al-Aytam al-Islamiyeh, held at the Sea Side Pavilion (formerly BIEL), Hariri said Lebanon was facing internal and external challenges that required the speedy formation of the new government to carry out reforms and fight corruption. “Lebanon today is facing great internal and external challenges. The ongoing regional escalation, militarily in Syria, politically in occupied Palestine after the unacceptable step of transferring the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and strategically after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, all are reasons that urge us to double our efforts to continue protecting our country from surrounding risks. The first effort is to accelerate the formation of the government,” Hariri said. He added that all the main political parties in the country and Parliament were aware of the external risks and internal challenges. “They agree on the need to speed up the formation of the government. There is also a consensus between President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and myself on the need to accelerate the administrative and economic reforms, including the fight against all kinds of corruption. The coming days should translate this will into reality,” Hariri said. Referring to the CEDRE conference held in Paris last month which witnessed donor countries pledge more than $11 billion in grants and soft loans to finance investment and infrastructure projects in Lebanon, Hariri said: “Internally, we have a golden opportunity to start the long-awaited reforms, and implement the Capital Investment Program. Its first phase was financed at the CEDRE conference in Paris a few weeks ago. It will stimulate economic growth, provide the basic services to all the Lebanese and create employment opportunities.” Speaking to reporters after meeting Aoun earlier in the day, Hariri said: “I briefed the president on the positive atmosphere prevailing among all [the parties]. President Aoun hoped that the government will be formed as soon as possible and offered wide cooperation. I am optimistic, God willing, that the government will be formed very fast.” Hariri, who was reappointed to the premiership last week for the third time, said he would meet in the next few days with all the political parties to sound out their views and hear their demands for their representation in the new government. Hariri said he did not present to the president any preliminary Cabinet lineup, but reiterated his support for a “national entente government.” Asked whether he agreed with Aoun on a 32- or 26-member Cabinet representing all blocs, including minorities, and the rotation of the four “sovereign” ministerial portfolios (the Defense, Interior, Finance and Foreign Affairs ministries), Hariri said: “We discussed all these matters and we agreed to assess ideas in order to reach the best way to form the government. Everyone is keen to be represented in it. For my part, I am keen on agreement with in it as happened in the previous government for the benefit of Lebanese citizens.” In addition to the president’s potential share of ministers in the new Cabinet, Hariri said the prime minister would also have his own share. Hariri’s optimism about the swift formation of a new government comes against the backdrop of expected jockeying by rival factions to capture the “sovereign” portfolios. Other important ministries to be contested by political rivals are those dealing with public services such as the Public Works, Telecommunications, Energy and Water and Education ministries. Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, demanded that the FPM’s 29-member Strong Lebanon bloc be granted either the Interior or the Finance portfolio. Although various blocs have promised Hariri to help facilitate and accelerate the Cabinet formation, it remains to be seen how much of these promises will translate into action. Before meeting Aoun, Hariri chaired the weekly meeting of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc, which stressed that local and external challenges facing Lebanon required the rapid formation of the new government. “The bloc ... stressed the importance of combing efforts to facilitate the prime minister-designate’s mission and reach a government that translates the results of the elections and national consensus on the importance of solidarity to face imminent challenges at the economic and regional levels,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its meeting held at Hariri’s Downtown Beirut residence. The FPM’s Strong Lebanon bloc said that the president’s share of ministers in the government was not up for discussion. “The president’s share [of ministers] in the government is taken for granted and is not up for discussion,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan told reporters after the bloc’s meeting chaired by Bassil. He called on all the parties to facilitate the Cabinet formation process, saying that the results of elections would be the basis to decide the size of each bloc’s representation. Kanaan was apparently responding to MP George Adwan from the Lebanese Forces’ Strong Republic bloc, who said Monday that the bloc should be represented in the Cabinet as part of Aoun’s share of ministries. The president is customarily given the right to nominate ministers close to him to Cabinet posts.