Bkirki Warns against 'Marginalizing' Christians in Cabinet

Bkirki has warned against violating the National Pact in the cabinet session that will be held on Thursday, stressing that “the country can only be governed through partnership.”

“We are counting on Prime Minister (Tammam) Salam's respect for the National Pact, seeing as he knows the structure of the Lebanese formula very well and he cannot continue without the Christian component,” Bishop Boulos Sayah, the Vicar General of the Maronite Patriarchate, told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

“That's why he is supposed to act according to the requirements of the national interest,” Sayah added.

“It would be dangerous for the government to continue its functioning without the ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement and the Kataeb Party, knowing that the Lebanese Forces is not part of the government in the first place, seeing as this would prevent Christians from taking part in the country's decisions,” the vicar general said.

“Haven't the Lebanese learned that this country can only be governed through partnership? Christians are present and no one can eliminate them or take them back to the approach of marginalization,” Sayah emphasized.

He also warned that the cabinet cannot continue to function “without the real representatives of Christians,” cautioning that such a situation “that would lead to the decay” of the State.

“They might continue today without us but tomorrow other components might be marginalized, that's why eliminating the Christian component is prohibited,” Sayah added.

“Let them find solutions that respect the National Pact and we will not tolerate any violation of the National Pact and the Constitution,” he went on to say.

The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that distributed power among the country's religious communities and set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state.

The FPM's decision is linked to the thorny issue of military appointments.

Last week, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers.

The movement fears that the extension of Kheir's term could pave the way for a new extension of the tenure of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji next month.

Qahwaji's retirement had been postponed in September 2013 and his term was instead extended for two years.