Mikati continues his consultations to hold a new session of the Council of Ministers

Prime Minister Najib Mikati resumed his consultations on the next stage and held a new session of the Council of Ministers. It is scheduled that the Grand Serail will witness this week a series of meetings of ministerial committees, in preparation for a cabinet session that Prime Minister Mikati will call to complete the agenda of the previous session, as well as items related to the educational sector, the Lebanese University, and the health issue.

Parliament, and while it was confirmed that there will be no session to elect a president this Thursday as long as Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will not invite a session to elect a president this week, today the first meeting between the leaderships of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is taking place since the estrangement that arose against the background of the government crisis and accusatory speech. Issued by the movement for Hezbollah to back down from pledges, and the political and media tension between the two allies, originally arising over how to approach the presidential file.

Today, the Progressive Socialist Party is holding a press conference at its headquarters in Wata al-Musaitbeh, during which it will discuss the presidential election, as the Democratic Gathering will tend to suspend its participation in the sessions to elect the president if things remain as they are from refusing dialogue and consultation in order to end the crisis, and it will also address the importance of internal dialogues. And to the need to address the economic and financial conditions and find solutions for the educational sector, amid the announcement of the employees of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to continue the strike until the 27th of January.
Al Diyar wrote: Preparations have begun to hold a legislative session to approve the Capital Control Law and extend the mandate of the Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim. The information indicated that work is being done to mature a settlement that would make Bassil cover this session as a Christian, as long as the head of the “Forces” party, Samir Geagea, raises the bar a lot in this field.

It does not seem that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is about to call this week for a session to elect a president, which was what one of the representatives of “Change” read as a challenge to them, “especially since he called for a session of joint committees to discuss proposals for laws that he brought out from under the constitution only with the aim of provoking us.” The deputy, who preferred not to reveal his identity, said, “But we, on the other hand, are sticking to our sit-in, and we will not leave the parliament before electing a president, and let Berri and the rest of the unemployed assume their responsibilities.”
Political circles informed the “brigade” that the local contacts that make their way during the auspicious week are in the context of cooling the political atmosphere. And she believed that the electoral file enters into a stage of complexity due to the absence of any effective initiative, pointing to the anticipation of the statements and positions issued by the parliamentary blocs at a time when the sit-in deputies are pressing for open sessions to elect a new president for the country.
These circles saw that this step is continuing, at least during this period, while awaiting any new breach.
The same circles stopped at the importance of internal movements, in light of what is being reported from abroad that there is no French, European or international interest in the situation in Lebanon, at least at the current stage, and therefore the Lebanese should seize the appropriate opportunity to elect a president at a time that should not exceed the next few weeks.
It is noteworthy that the diplomat in the French Foreign Ministry, Patrice Paoli, denied any knowledge of any meeting on Lebanon to be hosted by Paris early next month.