Press Digest for Sunday February 10, 2013

The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.

• Fatfat: The Future bloc is ready to discuss any electoral proposal               

Future Bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat said that MPs Sami Gemayel and Georges Adwan are expected to present new electoral proposals during the meeting of the joint committee on Monday.                            

Fatfat told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that the Future Bloc is ready to discuss any electoral draft in order to reach common grounds and hold the elections on due time.                            

Fatfat added that the initiative that Former PM Saad Hariri is a full initiative that stipulates holding the elections on the majoritarian system and establishing a senate on the basis of the proportionality law.                 

• Rai’s visit to Syria is ecclesiastical and spiritual                                 

Sources told al-Hayat newspaper that the visit of Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai to Syria is spiritual and added that it reflects the approach of the church and the Vatican’s policy to strengthen the unity of Christians in the East.           

The newspaper said that Patriarch Cardinal Rai had previously visited Egypt and Iraq in the same ecclesiastical and spiritual frameworks and mentioned that he also participated in the inauguration of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.             

• The EU will discuss listing Hezbollah under its list for terrorist organizations         

A diplomatic source at the European Union told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that the EU will be studying the issue of listing Hezbollah on the EU list for terrorist organizations and added that this decision is expected to be taken on the 18th of February during the meeting of the EU foreign ministers.                             

The source added that the Britain had already listed the military wing of Hezbollah under its list of terrorist organizations.             

It is worth noting that such a decision requires the consensus of the 27 member states at the EU and any veto will disrupt it.