Date: Jan 24, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Hariri says will decide on Cabinet formation next week Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Wednesday he would make a final decision on the Cabinet formation process next week, while citing “positive” developments in the monthslong issue. “There are positive things developing in the Cabinet [formation] issue. Next week will be decisive,” Hariri told reporters after a meeting with former MP Walid Joumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, at the latter’s residence in Beirut’s Clemenceau area. He said the meeting with Joumblatt was part of his intensified efforts aimed at breaking the Cabinet formation stalemate, which this week entered its ninth month. “I’ll meet with other politicians regarding the government issue in the next few days,” Hariri added. The PM-designate had met this past week with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, discussing, among other things, ways to resolve the problem of representing six Hezbollah-backed Sunni MPs, which has held up the Cabinet formation since October. Citing the worsening economic situation in the country and a report issued by Moody’s Investor Service Monday night that downgraded Lebanon’s long-term investment rating, Hariri urged rival factions to be “humble” in their demands for a Cabinet share to help facilitate the formation. “Things are developing economically and after Moody’s report, everyone must be humble [in their Cabinet-share demands],” he said. Hariri declined to talk about the “positive” developments in the Cabinet formation process to avoid “sabotaging” them. “There are no new specifications for the government. We want a national unity government in which everyone is represented and with which we restore the confidence of the Lebanese and through which we work to serve the Lebanese,” the premier-designate said. “We are not in a state of confrontation with anyone. Regional disputes will not stop work for the benefit of Lebanese citizens. As a prime minister-designate, I am holding consultations and I will make a final decision on the Cabinet issue next week,” Hariri added.Hariri said his meeting with Joumblatt was also intended to show solidarity with the PSP leader, who had been the target of verbal attacks by Syrian-backed Druze opponents MP Talal Arslan and former minister Wiam Wahhab in the past few days. “We and Walid Beik came under [verbal] attacks. So, we came here to close ranks,” Hariri said. For his part, Joumblatt accused “forces,” whom he did not name, of obstructing the Cabinet formation. “There are forces that want to weaken Lebanon’s economic and social infrastructure in order to control the country,” the PSP leader said after the meeting. “These forces mobilized themselves recently to attack others and they do not care about the economic situation in Lebanon, especially after Moody’s rating of Lebanon’s economy.” “The Cabinet crisis still exists because there has been no response from these forces [over representation]. Hariri is trying to reach a response in the framework of untangling the knot of the Consultative Gathering,” Joumbatt said, referring to the group of six Sunni MPs. “Inshallah, the government will be formed soon,” he added. In a bid to break the Cabinet impasse, Hariri was reported to have discussed with leaders he had met the redistribution of some ministerial portfolios with a view to resolving the issue of representing the six Sunni MPs from outside his Future Movement. Berri reportedly offered to give up the Environment Ministry allotted to his bloc in exchange for the Industry Ministry that had been assigned to the PSP’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc. MTV said Hariri tried to persuade Joumblatt to cede the Industry Ministry to Berri’s bloc in exchange for the Administrative Development portfolio. The Central News Agency quoted PSP sources as saying: “We have no information about this issue. What we can confirm is that we will not cede the Education and Industry portfolios. We will not back off from what we have agreed on.” Meanwhile, Berri called for the caretaker Cabinet to meet to endorse the 2019 draft state budget if a new government is not formed soon. Speaking during his weekly meeting with MPs at his Ain al-Tineh residence, Berri said he would convene Parliament for successive legislative sessions to ratify the draft budget once it has been approved by the caretaker Cabinet. “Speaker Nabih Berri will call for successive legislative sessions and stressed the need for the caretaker Cabinet [to pass the budget] and send it to Parliament,” MP Ali Bazzi from Berri’s parliamentary bloc told reporters after the meeting. Bazzi said Berri stressed the need for the government to pass a state budget to Parliament, noting that if this doesn’t happen by Jan. 31, a law would be needed to fund state institutions. In 2017 and 2018, the outgoing government endorsed Lebanon’s first budgets since 2005, but has yet to pass the 2019 budget. “Speaker Berri also underlined the need to rise above wrangling and divisions and the need to form the government in the wake of Moody’s report,” Bazzi said. He added that Berri emphasized that the six Sunni MPs be represented in the next government either by one of the six, or by one of the three candidates they had presented to President Michel Aoun to choose one of them. According to Bazzi, Berri said there was a “new atmosphere and momentum” to form a new government within a week or less as he had heard from Hariri. “The atmosphere is good and positive. But if we continue to delay the Cabinet formation, we will be committing a national crime,” Berri was quoted as saying. Berri also addressed Moody’s report on Lebanon’s economy, according to Bazzi. “This requires everyone to avoid polarization and divisions and focus on facing all the challenges. With the presence of a [new] government, appropriate measures can be taken to answer all relevant questions.” Berri said. According to Bazzi, Berri, also called for “balanced concessions” by the rival factions to facilitate the government formation.