Lebanon's President Michel Aoun meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati (right) at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on June 23. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun will not meet with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati before Eid al-Adha (July 9-12) to discuss government formation, a source at the Presidential Palace told L’Orient Today on Thursday.
Here’s what we know:
• Last Friday, a meeting was held between Aoun and Mikati to discuss a lineup for cabinet proposed from Mikati to Aoun on Wednesday, which was leaked that same day. Another meeting between the two was supposed to take place this week.
• The leaked document would renew the terms of most ministers in the current caretaker administration, with the exception of caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad, caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, caretaker Minister for the Displaced Issam Charafeddine and caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam.
• According to the leaked list, caretaker Fayad, who is from Aoun’s share in the former government, has been replaced by oil and gas engineer Walid Sinno, while Khalil’s seat would be replaced with former Minister and MP Yassine Jaber, who is associated with the Amal Movement.
• This afternoon, the United Nations’ Security Council said that it “took note of the appointment of Najib Mikati as the new designated Prime Minister on June 23, as well as the presentation by the latter of his government lineup to the President of the Republic of Lebanon on June 29.”
• The Security Council also called for “expediting the formation of a government to implement necessary reforms,” adding that “given the intensity of the compounding crises in Lebanon, it is the responsibility and duty of all political actors to work together to prioritize the national interest and to rise to the challenges facing the Lebanese people."