Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai broke the stalemate in the issue of the Lebanese government’s formation by meeting on Friday with President Michel Aoun and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, a day after his meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the patriarch took the initiative to meet with Hariri and invited Bassil to Bkerki.
During his meeting with Rai, the president affirmed that his goal was to form a productive and effective government that would be able to face internal and regional challenges.
The sources added that Rai has listened to a full explanation by Aoun, especially about the need to adopt unified standards in forming the new government.
Rai, for his part, noted that he did not know the proposed names of ministers, “because this falls within the role of Hariri and Aoun.”
“Whatever the reasons and circumstances, a solution must be found between the president and the premier-designate to produce a government that launches reforms, beginning with the reconstruction of Beirut,” the patriarch said.
Regarding the meeting with Bassil, the sources denied that Rai presented to the former minister a ministerial lineup proposed by Hariri.
However, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) briefed Rai on the formation process, reiterating that he did not submit any particular requests but that the president should be an essential partner in the birth of the new government.
“If the intentions are clear and there is a will, the government will be formed in a short time,” Bassil said following the meeting.
Bkerki’s media official Walid Ghayad told Asharq Al-Awsat that Rai’s step “came to break the deadlock in the formation of the government.”
