Ghada Halawi
From behind his desk, the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, reviews a set of papers that included the achievements of his reign. He enumerates them. He does not miss any incoming or outgoing matters unless he separates them in detail and says to those who accuse him of negligence, “search for the powers of the President of the Republic.” Directly and without equivocation, and from the content of his stances, Aoun accuses the Speaker of Parliament of obstruction in many places. His opposition “caused harm” to the country, according to what he said. The dispute goes back to the day the decision was taken to elect him, and Berri explicitly informed him that he would be opposed to his accession to the first presidency, and the opposition continued and appeared in more From an occasion to the positions and accusations made by his former Finance Minister, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, to say that what he talked regarding in his last conference is “a lie and slander,” denying that he and his current supported the extension of the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Riad Salameh.
He does not show enthusiasm for the positions that Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed towards Saudi Arabia, and he intended to issue a mild statement in his wake. He said in a chat with Nidaa Al-Watan: “Things might have been calmer in the discourse towards Saudi Arabia, than Lebanon’s interest today is to have a good relationship with it, and therefore the tone should be softened.” And whether he expected more escalatory steps from Saudi Arabia towards Lebanon, he said: “The harshest it has ever done since 2017 until today.” He realizes that the dispute with the Kingdom has regional extensions and is closely linked to the war in Yemen, and when this war stops, the Saudi-Iranian relationship will inevitably improve, and this will have its repercussions on Lebanon.
Internally, in view of the tense atmosphere and the mutual political debate between the Amal movement and the Free Patriotic Movement, Aoun believes that “the solution must start from somewhere, and the dialogue may be leading to this end,” refusing to consider it a “dialogue during the remaining time of the covenant’s life.” And he sees it as “a necessity in order to calm the internal atmosphere in preparation for urging foreign countries to help Lebanon.” He picked up positively the words of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the call for dialogue, “even though those in its orbit are still hesitant,” considering that the refusal of some forces “is an evasion of responsibility.”
Aoun expressed his deep concern regarding the fate of the government and the suspension of the cabinet’s work. “Disrupting the government is a grave mistake, and no party has the right to do so, and Speaker Berri’s ministers refuse to participate in the sessions.” Since the beginning of his term, Berri has declared that he will be opposed to his term. Aoun tells this, saying: “Before I was elected, I visited the heads of the parliamentary blocs, so I visited Berri, who took the initiative to say: “I do not support your accession to the presidency, but I support Suleiman Franjieh.” I told him, “You are free, and I respect your opinion and understand you.” He added, “But Berri’s opposition is harmful to the country and has disrupted laws in Parliament that we had proposed, including the old age law and another law on the organization of security services.” As for Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s website and his role in calling for a government session, he says Aoun: “Mikati fears that the call for a cabinet will lead to the resignation of Shiite ministers from the government. Constitutionally, the government can hold its session despite their absence, but I am not willing to bypass the charter.”
He refuses to talk regarding that his reign will end without recording achievements, considering that several achievements have been achieved, the first and most important of which was “the completion of oil and gas extraction despite the great decision to stop it.” On the second day, and it was only hours until they came back and told me that they were not large commercial quantities” following it became clear that there was an “international barrier”, revealing that the last session with the American mediator was good, but he went to Israel in the hope of returning to Lebanon and we are still waiting for his return.
The achievements also include “the eradication of terrorism and the preemptive dismantling of sleeper cells, financial regulation following a long absence, cutting off the account and diplomatic formations that brought Lebanon back to the international arena and security stability, and the election law that achieved a balance between sects and within one sect to represent the majority and the minority, criticizing the parliament’s mistake by dropping the parliament.” The law was voted down by less than 65 votes, then its fall in the Constitutional Council in disapproval.
Aoun denies the extension story of the Governor of the Banque du Liban and says: “It was my intention to change it because he spent in his position for many years, but Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil was the one who proposed the extension for him and requested that it be included on the cabinet table from outside the agenda, and the issue was not subject to voting at that time, in addition to The process of intimidation led by the Association of Banks by saying that not extending it would expose the financial situation to risks. He said, “There are things that are said that are beyond the ability to comprehend and cause anger when you hear them.” He continued, commenting on Hassan Khalil’s words, “Not a word of truth is all lies and slander. It was the Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, who asked me to abide by my powers as President of the Republic, to present the issue to the government session from outside the agenda.” The delegation of the Association of Banks wished not to appoint a replacement for him because we are at the beginning of the crisis and he is the only one who is able to address it, as was the opinion of the economic bodies. On his proposal, it was presented to the Council of Ministers from outside the agenda.
On the accusation that there was a covenant of two presidents in Baabda, Aoun said: “Such talk is a lie and a lack of manners once morest the President of the Republic.” He continued: “I am the president of the republic and I am not the head of the movement, and I gave up the presidency of the movement in 2015, that is, two years before the presidency, but they did not recognize Gibran Bassil, and whenever they wanted something from him, they intended me to interfere in matters that concern him as the leader of the movement and the head of the largest parliamentary bloc. I have the story of the people of Boss Therese.” He continued: “The whole story is that they do not want to recognize Gibran as the head of the largest parliamentary bloc, and they complain regarding him to me, so I say review him and do not review me. I am the president of the republic managing the affairs of the country, and Gibran is the head of a current who manages the party’s affairs and political affairs in the country. They want to confuse the president and the head of the current to hold him responsible.”
Is it true that he paves the way for Bassil’s presidency of the republic and removes obstacles from his path? He says: “I remove obstacles from the path of every Lebanese and not from Gibran.” I do, and if Basil aspires to the presidency, he must be efficient, but they are afraid of him because he was my upbringing and he does not barter.” Does he think that Bassil will remain head of the largest parliamentary bloc in the upcoming elections? He said, “All parties witnessed a decline in their popularity, and despite that, the current will be the first among them and it will maintain its strong presence among them.”
And whether he was concerned regarding Mar Mikhael’s understanding, Aoun reiterated the role of understanding in bridging distances, recalling that “he was the first to pave the way for reconciliation between “Hezbollah” and the “Future Movement” following the estrangement occurred between them.” On the other hand, he recalled Bassil’s saying that “Hezbollah must choose today between Mar Mikhael, who achieved stability in the country, and Tayouneh, and everyone knows what he means by Tayouneh.”
He refuses to talk regarding the failure of his covenant, “When we say the covenant has failed, we must know in advance what is the authority of the President of the Republic, which are limited powers. They did not meet me in many matters, but they did not encircle the covenant. “The heads of the system,” including “the central governor responsible for protecting the national currency, but he harmed the financial situation,” referring to the criminal scrutiny and the obstacles that have been in his way for a year and a half, saying: “If we do not succeed in achieving it, I will announce to the people the obstructing reasons, and then the president will be one of the citizens who He will stand in the side of the depositors and will name those who stole the people’s money.” Is he still contemplating achieving steps within months of the end of his term? The President of the Republic finally answers: “There is a difference between the tortoise and the hare. We can do that in the remaining ten months. It is sufficient for the parliamentary committees to meet and then the parliament to approve the agenda so that this will be an achievement.”
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