President Michel Aoun meets with Premier-designate Najib Mikati on Aug. 17 to discuss cabinet formation. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)
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After canceling a scheduled visit to Baabda yesterday, it’s an open question whether Najib Mikati will meet with Michel Aoun today to continue negotiations to form a cabinet. Today marks one month since Mikati was designated to become prime minister. Since then, he has met with the president 12 times, but so far the two have been unable to agree on a cabinet lineup. Mikati was due to visit Baabda yesterday but postponed his visit, following two days in which rumors that he was going to Baabda also failed to materialize. The premiere-designate did not publicly give a reason for the postponement. Our sister publication, L’Orient-Le Jour, reported that his latest government lineup proposal, which would include 24 ministers with no political bloc receiving a so-called blocking third that would give it veto power, was still under discussion yesterday.
Hassan Diab is scheduled to appear for questioning before investigating judge Tarek Bitar today in connection with the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion. The caretaker prime minister was among a handful of high officials charged with negligence over the deadly blast last December by Bitar’s predecessor, Judge Fadi Sawwan, who was subsequently removed from the investigation. Since his appointment, Bitar has continued to press to prosecute top officials, including members of Parliament, but has so far been stymied as Parliament has resisted calls to lift immunity from top officials. A judicial source told L’Orient Today that Diab will likely not appear for today’s interrogation.
In another step toward the lifting of subsidies, businesses have gained permission to buy imported diesel for their generators paying in dollars at the market rate. The Energy Ministry’s decision, which took effect Tuesday, allows businesses to pay in fresh dollars for diesel imports, up to a maximum of $540 per kiloliter. George Fayyad, head of the oil importers syndicate, told L’Orient Today his understanding was that such arrangements could be made between companies without the involvement of the Energy Ministry. This development suggests growing momentum behind the complete liberalization of the fuel market, but in the meantime, it has created three markets: subsidized, unsubsidized and black market.