Confusion Surrounds Mikati's Meeting: A Cabinet Session Or A Consultation among Ministers?

Is it a Cabinet meeting, as stated by the Caretaker Prime Minister, or a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the patriarch's residence in Diman?

Government sources confirm that it is a consultation session among ministers to discuss important and critical national and social issues. Despite this confirmation, Mikati's statement has caused confusion.

Diman sources clarified to LBCI that the meeting between Patriarch Rai and Mikati, with the presence of some ministers, was for discussions on national, social, and livelihood matters and not an invitation to a Cabinet or ministerial meeting.

Ministers who were absent from the Diman meeting include Henri Khoury, Maurice Slim, Hector Hajjar, Abdallah Bou Habib, Walid Fayyad, and Walid Nassar.

They received a call from the Prime Minister the day before Wednesday's visit, inviting them to join the ministerial delegation accompanying him to Diman. However, they rejected this invitation, stating that they refused to participate in covering up Mikati's attempts to bypass and exclude the Maronite position, acting as if the government had complete authority.

Therefore, regardless of whether Mikati intended to call for a ministerial consultation session or a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the stance of these ministers remains the same in terms of non-participation.

As for the Minister of Tourism, Walid Nassar, LBCI has learned that he refuses to participate in any ministerial meeting called for by Mikati in Diman.