There is a big difference between the comment of the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai, from Baabda on April 25, on the foreign visits of the Prime Minister-designate, saying that it “means that there is follow-up and interest in the Lebanese file,” and what he confessed to his visitors recently, including Arab and European ambassadors, that “whoever wants Forming a government in which there is a misguidance to Lebanon. There is a wide gap between the Patriarch’s call on the political parties, in his sermon on March 22, to stop setting “crippling conditions aimed at obstruction,” and that “the priority of forming a government is not for criminal scrutiny,” and his call, in last Sunday’s sermon, Saad Hariri to send a government formation Updated to the President of the Republic.
It is not a secret that Bkerki, since the outbreak of the formation crisis, has always tended to hold President Michel Aoun and his political movement the largest share of responsibility for the government obstinacy, under the influence of Hariri’s “angels” who are always present in Bkerki, Like the two former ministers, Sajaan Azzi and Ghats Khoury For a long time, Al-Rahi remained convinced that the demands of the President of the Republic and his team for the obstructing third, the Ministry of Energy, the continuation of quotas, and others, is what impedes the formation of the upcoming government.
The patriarch’s “vexation” began, practically, after Hariri’s meeting with Pope Francis on April 22nd. During the meeting, Hariri assured his host of his keenness on equity and the rights of Christians, and that the problem lies in that Aoun’s ally, Hezbollah, does not want to form a government before the outcome of the US-Iranian negotiations becomes clear, and that the President of the Republic and his team cover the party by fabricating pretexts and arguments that delay the formation. After the meeting, Hariri implicated the Vatican when he launched, out of the ordinary with protocols, fiery positions against the President of the Republic, which caused great alarm in the capital of Catholicism.
Before Hariri returned to Beirut, a message of affection arrived from the Vatican to the President of the Republic, and a call to Bkerke demanding clarification of the causes of the Lebanese internal problem, and the possibility of the Patriarch taking an initiative.
After that, the sponsor hosted the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, for dinner, to learn directly from him the causes of the obstruction. The latter highlighted to the sponsor a series of papers in incomplete formations and the names of ministers with unknown political references, which Hariri presented to the President of the Republic, and presented the current view that the government needs to gain the confidence of the parliamentary blocs. He replied in the negative. When the Patriarch asked about the blocking third, Basil replied that Hariri’s presentation of a complete government formation that includes the portfolios and their distribution to doctrines, names, and their political references, would show that in a government of 24 ministers, the president’s team, along with Tashnak and MP Talal Arslan, will not obtain more than eight seats. As for the two other Christian ministers, a consensus formula can be reached on them.
