Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib on Monday put Lebanese President Michel Aoun in the atmosphere of his consultations to form the government, without offering any formation, while the deadline set by French President Emmanuel Macron for the class is approaching Policy for authoring completion, to completion.
This comes after two main political forces criticized at least the authoring process, namely the Free Patriotic Movement headed by Gebran Bassil, son-in-law of the President of the Republic, and the Amal Movement headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The two sides are allies of Hezbollah, the current most powerful political force in Lebanon.
At the end of his visit to Beirut at the beginning of this month, and the day after Adib was assigned to form the government, Macron announced the commitment of political forces to form a "government with a specific mission" that would undertake basic reforms and restore the people´s confidence, within a two-week period.
Adeeb, whom the main political blocs agreed to name, began the authoring consultations on the second of September, without yet disclosing its content or the extent of its progress.
A source in the Lebanese presidency told Agence France-Presse that Adeeb "probably did not offer any lineup" to Aoun, and the two sides "will resume the meeting whenever the consultation session is complete."
He explained that "the developments of the last two days required further consultations."
On Sunday, the Speaker of Parliament announced that the Amal movement did not want to participate in the government according to the "foundations" followed by Adeeb, stressing that "the problem is not with the French," but rather "internal."
"Al-Nahar" newspaper reported on Friday that Berri stipulates that the money bag be kept "in the hands of a Shiite figure", as it has been since 2014, in rejecting the principle of handbag rotation adopted by Adeeb, meaning that no party should stick to a specific bag.
France has been exerting pressure since the horrific port explosion on the political forces to form a government that undertakes urgent reforms in exchange for international support to pull the country out of its economic crisis. Macron has contacted both Basil and Brie personally during the past few days.
Bassil, whose deputies together with Berri and Hezbollah form a balanced parliamentary majority, warned on Sunday of the failure of the French initiative, with "the presence of internal and external parties that want to thwart it."
In a press conference, he criticized Adeeb, who enjoys the support of the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri, asking, "Does one group define the country and not others, and does not have the parliamentary majority, the specifications and the names alone?"
In the event that Adeeb insists on moving forward with a government that does not satisfy the strong Shiite component, the task of formation will be difficult, as agreement between the basic components has always been a condition for forming governments in Lebanon. In this case, the government may not obtain the approval of Aoun, who rose to power with the support of Hezbollah.
Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah, titled its main page on Monday, "Paris facing the test: consensus or political explosion." And it stated that "the Shiite duo will not agree to a de facto government."
