Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, received the ambassadors of the Quintet Committee today, Monday, in Ain al-Tineh. The ambassadors present were U.S. Ambassador Lisa Johnson, French Ambassador Hervé Magro, Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari, Egyptian Ambassador Alaa Moussa, and Qatari Ambassador Saud bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani.
Following the meeting, Speaker Berri stated: "The meeting was good and will be repeated, and there is a consensus on the necessity to reach an agreement to accomplish the electoral obligation."
For his part, Egyptian Ambassador Alaa Moussa remarked after the meeting: "Today we had the honor of being received by President Berri as ambassadors of the Quintet Committee. This meeting comes as part of the Committee's efforts to make headway in the presidential file leading to the election of a president as soon as possible."
He added: "The goal of this meeting is to initiate dialogue with President Berri, reaffirming what he has previously stated both in our meetings and in the media, which is his commitment to exert all efforts to facilitate the presidential election process. In fact, we discussed many details with his Excellency, which we will address in future meetings of the Quintet with various political forces that we will meet without exception over time."
He continued: "We have a round of discussions in the coming days and will undertake another round to reach a similar viewpoint among all and a common ground that significantly aids in concluding the presidential obligation. The meeting was very good; we listened to President Berri’s unwavering commitment, and we will strive to achieve something similar from all the political blocs to enter a path that leads to the election of a president at the earliest opportunity, and you will notice in the upcoming period that there will be many meetings and movements."
Responding to a question about the new signals that prompted the Quintet to resume its activities, the Egyptian ambassador stated: "The positive signals are summarized under one central theme, which is flexibility. This obligation, as you all know, has somewhat extreme positions from the outset, and what we seek is to reduce this extremism and find common ground. What we have received in recent days of positive signals indeed makes the situation more flexible, enabling us to create this common ground we talked about and to foster an environment that assists in achieving breakthrough in the presidential file."
When asked about the nature of the tangible breakthrough that has been achieved in the presidential file, the Egyptian ambassador responded: "The tangible breakthrough is, in fact, that the political blocs now have the conviction that consensus among them is extremely important. When we talk about consensus, it means that everyone is willing to engage in dialogue, discussion, and consultation leading to an agreement that everyone can accept. This is what we are looking for. As for the Moderation Bloc and its maneuvers, there isn’t much difference; there may be some more details, but we say that the movement of Moderation and others in Parliament is important and necessary. Once again, we affirm that this process is owned exclusively by Parliament and not by any other party; thus, the movement of Moderation is important, as well as the movement of others. I will not discuss anything else but rather broad outlines, and in the coming days, we may delve into the details, God willing."
