Baabda Palace responds to Hariri's apology: This is what happened and what will happen
7/15/2021 6:49:50 PM
The Presidency's press office issued the following statement:
"President Michel Aoun received this afternoon Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and discussed with him the formation of the new government. During the meeting, President Aoun presented to the Prime Minister-designate his remarks on the proposed lineup, asking to discuss the possibility of making some amendments to return to the agreement reached during the last period through the endeavors of Speaker Nabih Berri. However, Prime Minister-designate Hariri was not prepared to discuss any amendment of any kind, suggesting that President Aoun should take an extra day to accept the proposed formation. Accordingly, President Aoun responded that an extra day will not be beneficial if the door is closed. At this point, the meeting ended and Prime Minister-designate Hariri left, announcing his apology.
President Aoun stressed the need to abide by the agreement reached previously, but Prime Minister-designate Hariri rejected any amendment related to ministries, their sectarian distribution, the names associated with them, or taking the opinion of parliamentary blocs so that the government obtains the necessary votes of confidence from the Parliament, and he insisted on choosing the ministers.
The Prime Minister-designate’s rejection of the principle of agreement with the President of the Republic and the idea of consulting with him to make any change in the names and portfolios indicates that he took a prior decision to apologize, seeking to find reasons to justify his step, despite the willingness shown by the President of the Republic to facilitate the task of forming the government, for he is aware of the delicate situation and he is committed to the need to expedite the formation of a government capable of implementing reform, in addition to the President of the Republic's commitment to inform all the regional and international delegates who visited Lebanon in the past few days, and the correspondences he received from Arab and foreign officials.
Accordingly, after the Prime Minister-designate’s apology, the President of the Republic will set a date for binding parliamentary consultations as soon as possible."
"President Michel Aoun received this afternoon Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and discussed with him the formation of the new government. During the meeting, President Aoun presented to the Prime Minister-designate his remarks on the proposed lineup, asking to discuss the possibility of making some amendments to return to the agreement reached during the last period through the endeavors of Speaker Nabih Berri. However, Prime Minister-designate Hariri was not prepared to discuss any amendment of any kind, suggesting that President Aoun should take an extra day to accept the proposed formation. Accordingly, President Aoun responded that an extra day will not be beneficial if the door is closed. At this point, the meeting ended and Prime Minister-designate Hariri left, announcing his apology.
President Aoun stressed the need to abide by the agreement reached previously, but Prime Minister-designate Hariri rejected any amendment related to ministries, their sectarian distribution, the names associated with them, or taking the opinion of parliamentary blocs so that the government obtains the necessary votes of confidence from the Parliament, and he insisted on choosing the ministers.
The Prime Minister-designate’s rejection of the principle of agreement with the President of the Republic and the idea of consulting with him to make any change in the names and portfolios indicates that he took a prior decision to apologize, seeking to find reasons to justify his step, despite the willingness shown by the President of the Republic to facilitate the task of forming the government, for he is aware of the delicate situation and he is committed to the need to expedite the formation of a government capable of implementing reform, in addition to the President of the Republic's commitment to inform all the regional and international delegates who visited Lebanon in the past few days, and the correspondences he received from Arab and foreign officials.
Accordingly, after the Prime Minister-designate’s apology, the President of the Republic will set a date for binding parliamentary consultations as soon as possible."