BEIRUT: Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc’s decision to attend Wednesday’s Cabinet session came after Prime Minister Najib Mikati telephoned Aoun Tuesday evening.
The leaders discussed energizing the work of the Cabinet and the atmosphere during the telephone conversation was positive, political sources told The Daily Star. Prior to the conversation, contacts between the two had come to standstill.
Meanwhile, officials from Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement met recently to discuss its recent stances, their potential effect on the group’s supporters and on its credibility. Some FPM members called for refraining from making unrealistic demands and even suggested making a “truce” with Mikati.
Late last month, the FPM tied its continued participation in the Cabinet to the latter’s fulfillment of a series of demands made by the movement.
These include providing the Army with more advanced weaponry, increasing the minimum wage, passing the draft budget on time, moving forward with development projects, appointing civil servants and tackling the issue of the state’s public finances account.
Senior FPM sources said that FPM ministers were updating Aoun on Mikati’s response to these demands.
For example, the sources said Mikati argues that the implementation of a plan to boost Lebanon’s electricity sector, which was forwarded by Aoun, must await the response of the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development on a request for a small loan which might come after 100 days, while arguing that the prime minister facilitates the demands of other ministers.
The sources said that Mikati had informed Aoun through a third party that if administrative appointments in posts typically reserved for Christians were subject to a Cabinet vote, as proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri and favored by President Michel Sleiman, they might have to be put to a vote two or three times, especially as appointments in grade one require approval by two-thirds of the ministers, a level of support that the FPM could not secure.
The sources said that while discussing this information, some FPM officials called for exercising prudence, refraining from making demands that are difficult to achieve or from threatening to resign or boycott Cabinet sessions, especially as current politics in the country would not allow the FPM to make good on its threats.
The officials called for adopting a “more realistic” policy so that FPM supporters would not be disappointed.
They supported their argument by noting that the fall of the Cabinet was unlikely to happen especially as Hezbollah, the FPM’s ally, had sidestepped the funding of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which it strongly opposed, without allowing a Cabinet collapse.
Thus, despite the strong support which Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah had expressed for Aoun’s demands in two successive speeches, the party won’t risk the fall of the Cabinet for the sake of these demands.
They noted that after he provided the funds to the STL, Mikati’s stature had improved on the local level and with respect to the Higher Islamic Council and Western capitals, many of which are racing to invite him for a visit.
By paying Lebanon’s share of funds, the officials continued, Mikati had garnered the implicit support of Saudi Arabia and Arab capitals, adding that the prime minister’s belief that Hezbollah was in need of him and the Cabinet would prompt him to continue his attacks on the FPM and Aoun since they were easy targets. Also, attacking the FPM would boost the popularity of Mikati among Sunnis.
The FPM officials proposed a “truce” between Mikati and the FPM, under which the FPM would refrain from raising demands that could not be implemented, like sacking the acting secretary-general of the Prime Minister’s Office or trying to undermine the prerogatives of the prime minister, until Hezbollah succeeds in convincing all sides of the necessity of Aoun’s demands and fulfilling some of them.
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