BASSIL After “STRONG LEBANON” Meeting Hopes Government Birth Coincides With That of Christ 18 Dec 2018 Lebanon - “Strong Lebanon" Parliamentary bloc on Tuesday held its weekly meeting at its headquarters in Sin el Fil under the chairmanship of Caretaker Foreign Minister, Gebran Bassil. The meeting reportedly focused on the latest developments, especially with regard to the cabinet formation process. “It is only natural that the main issue on the meeting’s agenda had been the government’s birth, which we said and hoped to coincide with the birth of Christ,” Bassil said in the wake of the meeting. "Things are headed along this path, and I think a solution will surface from within the cabinet formation initiative and the many ideas that we have discussed on the basis of equity of representation and unity of standards — which I think are the most important,” Bassil said. "We can rejoice the birth of the government, but on the other hand, we have established stable standards so that we do not spark hubbub every time we want to form a government. It has been seven months, and we can only compensate for this time with a productive government that doesn’t only provide 24/24 electricity, but also serves the people in all the other fields,” Bassil said, regretting that the cabinet formation seven-month discussions were similar to those of the first week of similar discussions. Moreover, he highlighted the need to have the Sunni minority be represented in the new cabinet. “The Sunni minority must be represented with its own political orientation (...). Hence, the only solution was to jettison all monopoly, imposition, and rejection attempts.“ “Today I declare that there are some details that we have to work on within the next few days, and I wish the PM-designate and the President of the Republic would decide that the cabinet formula is ready and would be announced before Christmas,” Bassil added. He finally made clear that the new cabinet would be void of “8 and 14” since it is found on the basis of various national agreements. |
