Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati presides over a cabinet meeting at the Grand Serail in Beirut on Feb. 8, 2022. (Credit: File photo/Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is in the process of “calling for a consultative meeting with all the ministers” of his cabinet, before the end of the week, the Grand Serail said in a statement on Wednesday.
The statement also notes that Mikati is continuing his “consultations with the ministers to understand the nature of government work in the next stage.”
The statement denied Al-Akhbar newspaper’s story that Hezbollah had rejected Mikati's “attempt” to head a new government session and assured that “there is no intention to hold a session in the short term.”
Earlier this month, Mikati's caretaker cabinet met to address an agenda focused on social and medical aid amid Lebanon's ongoing economic crisis despite the boycott of several ministers close to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).
The FPM accuses Mikati of wanting to seize the prerogatives of the president amid a presidential vacuum following Michel Aoun's departure from the post at the end of his term on Oct. 31.
Mikati's cabinet assumed caretaker status following parliamentary elections in May. Although Mikati had been designated to lead the next cabinet also, his efforts to form a new government ahead of Aoun's departure from the Presidential Palace were unsuccessful.