Basil: The Free Current will not participate in the Lebanese government if Hariri stuck to its leadership

The leader of the Free Patriotic Party, Gibran Bassil, said that his party and Lebanon’s strong parliamentary bloc would not participate in the next government if Saad Hariri stuck to its leadership, and if Hezbollah and Amal insisted that it be a political and technical government headed by Hariri.

Bassil added at a press conference in Beirut on Thursday that if the next government is formed in this way, it will inevitably fail.

He continued that the door to a solution is an effective rescue government made up of its president and members who are worthy specialists and able to restore people's confidence.

Bassil's comments came days before the new date for parliamentary consultations, which will be launched Monday to name a new prime minister, and the consultations were postponed for a week, which angered the protesters who are demanding the formation of a government of talents from outside the current political class to meet their demands for change, fighting corruption and reforming the economy.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Beirut, Fadi Mansour, quoted the head of the Free Patriotic Movement as saying that if the government was to be composed of specialists, then its president should also be a specialist.

The reporter said that this is a response to Hariri's position that he would like to form a government of specialists headed by him, indicating that Basil believes that the resigned Prime Minister cancels the other parties, and that everyone is considered corrupt and holds them - with the exception of himself - responsible for the deterioration of the situation.

Al-Jazeera correspondent also said that Gibran Bassil warned Hezbollah that a settlement with Saad Hariri in forming a political technical government without the national trend would push the latter towards the opposition, and would also prompt him to question the fate of the alliance between him and Hezbollah.

For his part, Mustafa Alloush, a member of the political bureau in the Future Movement, said that the greatest possibility would be to assign Saad Hariri to form the new government, adding that it cannot be confirmed now if Hariri's mandate will lead to a rapid formation of the government.

The Anatolia Agency quoted him as saying that the term specialists does not mean that the government should be free of politicians, pointing to the need for the government to be homogeneous, and that the delay should not be its title.

In the context, Amin Shri, the deputy from the Parliamentary Bloc of Al-Wafa of Hezbollah, told Anadolu that an exceptional meeting will be held on Friday to take the final decision regarding the next government.

It was decided to postpone the consultations until next Monday after the political forces failed to agree on a candidate for prime minister, and two candidates for this position, Muhammad Safadi and Samir Al-Khatib, withdrew.

Rescue plan
Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri affirmed his commitment to preparing an urgent rescue plan to address the economic crisis in his country.

The confirmation came during two phone calls that Hariri had with both World Bank President David Malpas and the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christina Georgieva.

Hariri's talks with the leadership of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank come a day after the end of the "International Support Group for Lebanon" meeting in Paris, and the group has stipulated to support Lebanon to form a reform government.

Last week, Hariri requested financial support from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to secure basic foodstuffs and raw materials and address the shortage of liquidity.

Within the repercussions of the economic and financial crisis that Lebanon is experiencing in light of the wave of protests that have persisted since mid-October, Fitch Ratings lowered Lebanon's credit rating for the third time on Thursday.

The agency cautioned that it was expecting it to deliberately restructure its debt or default.

It is noteworthy that Lebanon is suffering under a public debt in the range of $ 86 billion, and the economy was severely affected by the financial crisis, as its growth rate fell last year to 0%.