After the agenda was distributed to ministers last Wednesday, the ministers boycotting the previous session did not respond to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers' letter, except for Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, who requested the withdrawal of any item on the agenda related to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is noteworthy that Item Eight includes the transfer of credits to institutions, administrations, and hospitals, as well as the payment of subscriptions and the reimbursement of the deficit in the approved allocations for Lebanon's contributions to regional and international organizations.
So far, the government scene stands as follows: the Cabinet will convene on Wednesday with an expected boycott from seven ministers rather than eight, as it is anticipated that Economy Minister Amin Salam will participate, attempting to include items related to his ministry, considering the prior distribution of the agenda a positive gesture from Mikati.
However, new information has emerged regarding the potential participation of Tourism Minister Walid Nassar, who has a good relationship with Mikati, as part of the latter's effort to maintain a quorum in case Hezbollah’s two ministers withdraw. Conversely, informed circles deny that Minister Nassar will break Bassil's boycott decision. Among the boycotters is Energy Minister Walid Fayad, who is primarily responsible for the electricity decrees and will be out of Lebanon.
An informed source confirms that in this case, "there is no legal issue related to his absence; once the Cabinet approves the decisions related to electricity, the decrees will be sent to him, and he will bear the responsibility for not signing them. If they are signed in the format adopted by Defense Minister Maurice Slim, i.e., associated with the names of 24 ministers, then the Prime Minister will sign the decree on his behalf and on behalf of the President of the Republic, in addition to the signature of the Minister of Finance, while disregarding the signatures of the 24 ministers."
In this context, information from multiple sources revealed to "Al-Jomhouria" that the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati received renewed support from Economy Minister Amin Salam last Wednesday, who informed him that he would attend cabinet meetings whenever an invitation is issued, opening the door to new possibilities that led him to commit to a supportive stance alongside Mikati in his open confrontation with the Free Patriotic Movement.
