Macron presses Lebanese politicians as cabinet deadline looms

PARIS/BEIRUT – French President Emmanuel Macron has been pressing Lebanese politicians to deliver on promises to form a new government this week and haul the country out of its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, his office said on Sunday.

Lebanon’s leaders promised Macron on Sept. 1 during his visit that they would form a cabinet of technocrats without party loyalties in about two weeks to end a crippling economic crisis made worse by a huge blast in Beirut on Aug. 4.

An official source said Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib was expected to present his plan for a cabinet to President Michel Aoun on Monday, seeking to accelerate a process that typically takes months of haggling over ministries.

“The (French) president continues his calls with the various political players in Lebanon,” the French presidential office said, without giving details about any discussions.

Macron held phone talks on Saturday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a top Shi’ite politician, in an effort to remove an obstacle over the finance ministry post, which is traditionally controlled by Shi’ites, a political ally of Berri said.

Berri, head of the Amal Movement, an ally of the politically powerful and heavily armed Shi’ite group Hezbollah, said in a statement on Sunday his group opposed the manner the cabinet was being formed and did not want to join. But he said he would cooperate to stabilise the nation.

“The problem is not with the French, the problem is internal,” Berri’s office said in its statement, after an ally said Berri had held a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron .

Berri cited a concern about a lack of consultation and what he called resorting to “foreign leverage” in forming the cabinet. The same phrase was used in a speech on Sunday by another Hezbollah ally, Christian politician Gebran Bassil.

The prime minister-designate, a Sunni, has made few public comments. But sources say he wants to shake up the leadership of ministries, some of which have been controlled by the same groups for years.

Donors have demanded reforms to unlock billions of dollars in aid that was originally pledged in 2018 but never disbursed.

Any government needs the blessing of the main Christian and Muslim factions to ensure it conforms with Lebanon’s sectarian system of power sharing.

France has drawn up a detailed roadmap for tackling corruption and other problems that have paralysed the banking system and sent the currency into tailspin.

Political sources say Berri’s position towards the cabinet hardened after the United States imposed sanctions on allies of Hezbollah, a group Washington deems a terrorist group but which Paris says has a legitimate political role.

Hezbollah also is reportedly unhappy with the way Adib is conducting his consultation over the formation of the cabinet and decided not to join his cabinet.

Adib Aoun meeting

Adib plans to meet with President Michel Aoun Monday to present him with his first draft Cabinet lineup, made up of independent specialists, political sources said Sunday

However, it remains to be seen whether Adib’s proposed Cabinet that would exclude, probably for the first time in Lebanon’s modern history, representatives of the country’s main political parties, would be able to gain Parliament’s vote of confidence despite the fact that these parties had already opted not join the new government. He may need a lending hand from Macron , analysts say

According to Lebanese media reports Adib intends to present a 14-member Cabinet lineup to Aoun at a meeting at 11 a.m. Monday at the presidential palace in Baabda.

Adib is reportedly determined to keep the cabinet lean and efficient If Aoun approves such a Cabinet, Adib will then have to rally support for it in parliament , but if Aoun rejects it and insists on 24 member cabinet , this may prompt Adib to quit bringing the cabinet formation process back to square one.

(Reuters)/ Agencies