Sources close to both President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati unanimously agree that the consultations are in their final stages, and next week will witness their birth, specifically following Mikati’s return from abroad and the end of the parliament session devoted to discussing the budget on September 26.
In this context, former Minister Elias Nahas, an advisor to Mikati, told the newspaper:The Middle East“There is optimism that the government will be formed soon, and this is what the Prime Minister spoke regarding clearly and explicitly during his recent visit to President Aoun, and he would not have announced this if he did not have the data, and regarding the government’s formula, the trend is for the (resigned) government to remain as it is with the change of some ministers. However, consultation remains open to reach a formula that satisfies all concerned parties.
Ministerial sources close to the Presidency of the Republic pointed out that at the end of next week Lebanon will witness the birth of the government.
She said, “After Mikati’s return at the end of this week from New York and the convening of the parliament session devoted to the budget at the beginning of next week, it is assumed that the government will return to talking and serious research to put the final touches on the formation, which agreed that its formula would remain as the current caretaker government, and the option of adding six ministers was excluded. state to it, i.e. a government of thirty ministers, as Aoun was asking for.”
She pointed out that “the change, as it has become known, will affect the Minister of Economy Amin Salam and the Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharaf Al-Din, and it may also include the Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil,” noting at the same time that “there is a problem with the name that will be appointed instead of Sharaf Al-Din following The name of former minister Saleh al-Gharib (who is affiliated with former minister Talal Arslan) had been put forward, but it seems that it will not be adopted because it constitutes a provocation to the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt.
