Mikati meets with Guterres. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT – Prime Minister Najib Mikati again Monday indicated that his cabinet is unlikely to meet in the near future, saying “calling a meeting for the Council of Ministers without an agreement between the ministers is not desired …I will not go towards a scenario which will put us face to face with cabinet resignations.”
Here’s what we know:
• Mikati’s remarks came during discussions with the press at the Grand Serail ahead of the premier’s meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is on an official visit to Lebanon.
• The prime minister’s cabinet has not convened since Oct. 12, when its meeting was adjourned over its members’ disagreement about the future of Judge Tarek Bitar’s leadership of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast investigation.
• On the matter of the investigation into the port explosion, Mikati expressed to the press gathered his preference for “the Supreme Council to try presidents and ministers” but emphasized that “the government's position is clear. We do not intervene in the [work of] the judiciary, but it must respect the constitutional frameworks.”
• Mikati’s words came before a speech he gave ahead of receiving Guterres. During the speech, Mikati expressed Lebanon's adherence to UN Security Council resolution 1701, which was made to resolve the 2006 war with Israel and stipulates the withdrawal of Israeli forces behind the Blue Line. Mikati called on the United Nations to compel Israel to fully implement it and stop its repeated attacks on and violations of Lebanon’s land, sea and air.
• The prime minister also used the occasion to call on the international community “to assume its responsibility in facilitating the return of the displaced Syrians in Lebanon to their country,” amid Lebanon’s worst economic crisis in decades.
• Finally, Mikati affirmed the government’s determination to hold parliamentary elections, scheduled for spring 2022, on time.