During a press conference held at his residence in Rabieh, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Monday he will not meet with Prime Minister-designate MP Saad Hariri, unless the latter “stops his crazy MPs from attacking me.” Aoun refused to refer to Hariri as the prime minister-designate, stressing that Hariri should be called the MP-designate until the new government is formed.

Aoun also attributed the stalled cabinet formation to “external reasons,” which he said are statements made by the US and Israeli officials, while accusing the majority of launching a smear campaign against him in order to “cover up its inability to form a cabinet.”

The movement leader reiterated his demands for adopting proportionality, a sovereign ministry and the Telecommunications Ministry. He added that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt “torpedoed” the 15-10-5 cabinet formula – which grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and the president five – when he split from the March 14 alliance. “You do the math, and you will see that the formula has become 12-10-5-3,” Aoun said, with the last three being Jumblatt’s share taken from the majority’s.

The FPM leader also fiercely defended his son-in-law, Telecom Minister Gebran Bassil – who was defeated in the 2009 parliamentary elections – saying that “if they criticize him, then they are criticizing me.” Aoun listed Bassil’s accomplishments and expressed his pride in his son-in-law, who “put an end to stealing and stopped the mafia within the Telecom Ministry.”

Aoun also slammed the Interior Ministry as an institution, describing its performance to be “unacceptable,” while defending Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, because “the same parties that are launching campaigns against the FPM are also preventing Baroud from doing his job properly.”

On whether or not the president’s powers should be enhanced, the FPM leader said that there no contradiction in his calls for strengthening the president’s powers while asking for being granted the Interior Ministry – which is in the president’s cabinet share – stressing that “the president should be given the authority to intervene in all ministries, rather than being granted a ministerial share.”
 
-NOW Staff