Berri to Call for General Session if Government Not Formed

Source: Al-Manar TV, 10-07-2008

So, the security situation is again deteriorating in the absence of a government that could take the initiative and handle the problem.

However, Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri announced that he will call for a general parliamentary session if President Michel Suleiman returns from France without a national unity government formula.

The meeting would formally discuss the situation resulting from the delay in forming a government, Berri told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Kabas.

Berri's interview, which is to be published later, indicated that the speaker would not convene a
session in parliament in the absence of President Michel Suleiman. "But I will invite the parliament to convene as soon as he returns to Beirut," he stated.

"I know that the Constitution does not set a deadline for the prime minister-designate, but this does not mean that Lebanon can forever remain in its current form and return to resorting to the street," Berri added, noting that he had informed the president as much during their weekly meeting last Wednesday.

Berri said the potential session would consist of a "general discussion of the topic of the government and whether they intend on agreeing or not."