Date: Jan 28, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: Breakthrough elusive as govt crisis enters ‘decisive’ week Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: A breakthrough in the Cabinet formation crisis appears elusive despite extensive talks by Lebanese leaders in Paris, as Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is bent on making a final decision on the deadlock this week. “It’s a decisive week for the Cabinet formation process. We hope the issue will be settled in a positive way by forming a new government,” former Future MP Ammar Houri, who was named last week as a political adviser to Hariri, told The Daily Star Sunday night. Asked what would happen if Hariri was unable to form a new government due to remaining obstacles, Houri said: “In this case, all options will be open.” He refused to give details, or say whether the possibility of Hariri stepping down from his mission to form a national unity government was among those options. Future TV, affiliated with Hariri’s Future Movement, echoed a similar view. “Prime Minister Hariri insists that the coming week be the week of decision [on the Cabinet formation]. He will complete his consultations and contacts in Beirut early this week after which he will make his final decision on the Cabinet situation in light of these contacts,” the TV said in its news bulletin. Houri said he did not have any information on the results of Hariri’s talks in Paris over the weekend with caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on the Cabinet formation gridlock, which has entered its ninth month. Hariri met at his residence in Paris Saturday with Geagea, discussing “political developments, especially those related to the government formation,” a statement from the premier-designate’s media office said. The talks with Geagea came after Hariri held two meetings in Paris with Bassil, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement. MTV quoted sources close to Bassil as saying that the meetings in Paris “have not yet reached a solution” to the Cabinet formation crisis. LBCI channel said Hariri held a third meeting with Bassil later Sunday night. Before he left Beirut for Paris Thursday for a “short family visit,” Hariri met with Speaker Nabih Berri and former MP Walid Joumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, as part of his intensified flurry of consultations with top leaders aimed at breaking the impasse. His talks with these leaders centered on a swap of some ministerial portfolios, as well as resolving the problem of representing six Hezbollah-backed Sunni MPs that has stymied the Cabinet formation since October. With Bassil insisting on obtaining the Environment Ministry for his parliamentary bloc, Berri reportedly told Hariri he was ready to give up this ministry allotted to his bloc in exchange for the Industry Ministry, which had been assigned to the PSP’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc, or the Culture Ministry, part of the LF’s share. Sources close to the PSP said Joumblatt refused to cede the Industry and Education ministries assigned to his bloc. Similarly, local media quoted Geagea as saying he refused to cede the Culture Ministry. Hariri, who was designated to form a new government on May 24, has promised to make a final decision on the Cabinet formation process this week after citing “positive” developments in the issue. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah weighed in on the crisis, renewing his call for the quick formation of a new government and offering to cooperate with Hariri to break the deadlock. He said there were two hurdles facing the Cabinet formation: A distribution of some ministerial portfolios, and representing the “Consultative Gathering,” the group of the six Sunni MPs not affiliated with the Future Movement. Referring to Hariri’s flurry of activity, Nasrallah said in a wide-ranging interview with Al-Mayadeen channel Saturday night: “There are serious and exceptional efforts to form the government. We insist on the formation of the government as soon as possible because this will be in Lebanon’s interest.” “Prime Minister Hariri is trying to narrow differences with all political parties. We are positive and keen on openness and cooperation with Prime Minister Hariri despite being [verbally] attacked by the Future Movement,” he added. In the interview breaking his silence of more than two months that had sparked rumors about his health, Nasrallah said Hezbollah insisted on the representation of the six Sunni MPs in the next government, adding that the results of the May parliamentary elections gave the Consultative Gathering the right to have one minister. Nasrallah emphatically denied that Hezbollah and its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement, were seeking to change the 1989 Taif Accord that stipulated equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians in favor of a tripartite system of governance including Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. “We, the Shiites, have never demanded a tripartite system [of governance] in Lebanon. We are not considering a tripartite system or a change or an amendment of the Taif Accord,” he said. He added that “some Christian circles” were talking about this issue. “This talk [about a tripartite system] is baseless,” the Hezbollah chief said. “We need internal peace. Anyone who talks about a tripartite system is seeking to undermine internal peace.” Nasrallah’s remarks appeared to be responding to Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, who warned earlier this month during a meeting in Bkirki, attended by heads and representatives of the country’s main Christian parties, against attempts to change the country’s equal power sharing formula in favor of a tripartite system of governance including Christians, Sunnis and Shiites. Nasrallah also denied there was any strain as a result of the Cabinet formation crisis in his relationship with President Michel Aoun with whom he signed a 2006 understanding between Hezbollah and the FPM. “There has been no change at all in the relationship with President Aoun. The understanding between Hezbollah and the FPM still exists and is solid,” Nasrallah said. A member of Berri’s parliamentary Development and Liberation bloc expressed hope about the Cabinet formation this week. “Lebanon is going through a Cabinet formation crisis that has become a baffling puzzle. We no longer know when this government will be born and we no longer know who is forming the government,” MP Hani Qubeisi said at a marketing festival in the southern town of Nabatieh. He was apparently alluding to Bassil, who has been accused of interfering in the Cabinet formation process. “We hope that the coming week will be a week of optimism during which the government will be formed. We wish everyone success and for this optimism to be translated with the birth of the government,” Qubeisi added.