Hasan LakkisHussein Dakroub| The Daily Star

BEIRUT: The Cabinet meets Wednesday with no signs of any breakthrough in the contentious issues of the decision-making system and security and military appointments, stoking fears of a new clash with MP Michel Aoun that would throw the executive body into disarray.

“There is no breakthrough at all in the [decision-making] mechanism or in the topic of security appointments,” Social Affairs MinisterRashid Derbas told The Daily Star Tuesday night.

“Things are stalled because there have been no compromises.”

On his expectations of Wednesday’s session, devoted mainly to resuming discussions on the Cabinet’s decision-making system, Derbas, who is close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam, said: “It will be a calm but unproductive session.”

He struck a downbeat note about the Cabinet’s performance in light of long-running disagreements among the ministers hindering its productivity. “The stalled matters are set to further aggravate [in light of Cabinet paralysis]. Grants worth $743 million to Lebanon are in jeopardy, waiting for the Cabinet’s approval,” Derbas said. He added that salaries of civil servants are also threatened if the Cabinet fails to approve the needed money.

However, senior sources in Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movementsounded optimistic about the possibility of reaching solutions during Wednesday’s session.

“We are going to the session in a positive atmosphere, especially after we received information that the prime minister and the other members are ready to reach a consensus and agreement over the Cabinet’s [decision-making] mechanism that satisfies all the parties,” an FPM source told The Daily Star.

With regard to the security appointments, the sources said that the extension of the term of Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Walid Salmanfor two years is inevitable but it is tied with an agreement to revive a plan to raise the retirement ages of senior Army officers.

The plan calls for raising the Army commander’s retirement age from 60 to 63, a move that would keep Army chief Gen. Jean Kahwagi, who retires on Sept. 23, in his post for two more years. It also calls for raising by two years the retirement ages of the Army chief of staff and brigadier generals.

The sources noted that if the reported deal over the decision-making system and security appointments proved to be well-founded, it needs a Cabinet draft law and an extraordinary parliamentary session to approve it.

Former minister Salim Jreissati from the FPM also sounded optimistic about the Cabinet session.

“It seems that the atmosphere of consensus has returned to compromise,” Jreissati told reporters after the weekly meeting of the parliamentary Change and Reform bloc chaired by Aoun. “Tomorrow will be the test on the mechanism to govern the Cabinet’s work.”

Three key topics are expected to dominate the Cabinet discussions: the ongoing garbage crisis, the decision-making mechanism and the appointment of military and security chiefs. The Cabinet must also address the urgent issue of appointing a new Army chief of staff to replace incumbent Salman, who retires on Aug. 7.

According to Derbas, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is expected to propose names of some senior officers for the post of military chief of staff. If the proposal wins a majority of two-thirds of the 24 ministers, it will be adopted by the Cabinet, Derbas said.

But given the lack of consensus among the ministers over appointing a new Army chief of staff, Moqbel will act according to his prerogatives, Derbas added.

Moqbel, who has held consultations with rival political leaders on the issue of security appointments, is poised to issue a decree postponing Salman’s retirement for two years as had happened in the case of appointing a new Internal Security Forces chief.

The defense minister insists that security appointments fall within his prerogatives during the 14-month-old presidential vacuum.

Labor Minister Sejaan Azi said in a statement after meeting U.S. Ambassador David Hale: “There are no solutions to the issue of the Cabinet’s governing mechanism except either through unanimity or consensus. Voting cannot be adopted in the absence of the president.”

Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated his support for the extension of the terms of security and military chiefs if no agreement is reached in the Cabinet to appoint new officers.

“I am with the appointment [of new security and military chiefs]. But if no consensus is reached, I am with the continuation of institutions, that is extensions,” Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence.

“When any administrative position becomes vacant and it is difficult to fill it, we resort to extension. This is essential to ensure the continuation of the work of institutions,” he said.

However, the expected extension of Salman’s term could spark opposition by the FPM’s ministers and street protests by the group’s supporters. The extension of the military chief of staff’s term will set the stage for the extension of Kahwagi’s mandate.

Aoun has threatened to paralyze the Cabinet if it does not act to appoint new military and security chiefs.

Aoun, who strongly opposes extending the terms of military and security chiefs, is lobbying for his son-in-law, Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, head of the Army Commando Unit, to be appointed as Army commander.

Also Tuesday, the parliamentary Future bloc renewed its call on the rival political parties to agree on the election of a president who can symbolize the unity of the Lebanese. It also blamed Hezbollah and the FPM for the presidential deadlock.