Speaker Berri calls for speedy government formation

Source: Nowlebanon.com, 18-6-2008

Speaker Nabih Berri pressed for the speedy formation of a national-unity government, which would address all national problems, particularly the security situation and sporadic clashes.
While Berri noted that "some people" were using the government formation for the parliamentary elections in 2009, he said the government was necessary to the policy change that could end the clashes.

"The sovereign ministries existed prior to the Taif Agreement, when executive authority fell in the hands of the president. But now it does not exist," Berri told reporters after his weekly meeting with President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday.

"No one objected to giving the security portfolios [Defense and Interior ministries] to President Sleiman, but only object to attempts to weaken some people through the government formation," he added.

The opposition agreed to 11 ministers in Doha, the speaker continued, and had granted the president two portfolios and one portfolio to the pro-government alliance.
"If General Michel Sleiman was allied with March 14 or March 8, he would not have been elected president," Berri concluded.