BEIRUT: An MP in Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun’s coalition said Friday that Hezbollah and Aoun “tacitly” approved funding the U.N.-backed court and tied the fate of the Mikati government to developments in Syria.
“Financing the Tribunal was done through a comprehensive agreement with the tacit approval of Hezbollah and Gen. Michel Aoun," said MP Neamatallah Abi Nasr, a member in Aoun’s bloc.
“Gen. Aoun had two options -- either stability or chaos ... but he preferred stability,” he said in an interview with El Nashra news website.
Abi Nasr hinted the agreement was a tradeoff in exchange for demands put forth by Aoun.
“Abstaining from funding would have meant a government collapse and therefore entering a [political] vacuum for months or years,” he said.
“Whereas [accepting] funding meant that we have paved the way for the [state] budget and other vital projects to pass [in Cabinet] as well as [public] appointments,” Abi Nasr added.
Sources had told The Daily Star that Mikati reached the deal without any tradeoffs with his March 8 allies.
Abi Nasr acknowledged that the solution to the STL funding crisis had been “engineered” by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, pointing out the money came from donations and taxes.
Turning to protests calling for toppling the Damascus regime, he said the life span of the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati was dependent on developments in Syria.
“The government will hold on until parliamentary elections which are due in 2013 unless developments in Syria shuffle the cards,” Abi Nasr said.
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