Bassil Accuses PSP of Having March 14 Mentality, Says Hizbullah Shouldn’t be a Bystander
Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stressed that the bickering between the ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat confirms that the cabinet is not one-sided.
In remarks to An Nahar daily published Friday, Bassil said the dispute that raged between the two sides during the cabinet session on Wednesday “confirms the government is not one-sided and does not have a single policy.”
Bassil, who is Aoun’s son-in-law, accused the PSP ministers of having the mentality of the March14-led opposition.
“The viewpoints of the March 14 forces are represented inside the cabinet but with different faces,” the FPM minister told An Nahar.
“We feel that our reform approach is being targeted,” he said, adding that the government was not able to accomplish much of what was expected from it.
In a clear criticism of FPM’s ally Hizbullah, Bassil said: “The party is keeping itself neutral and postponing the battle but essential issues are withering away.”
Hizbullah should not be a “bystander,” he told An Nahar, saying that the party which resists Israel on the border should also “become a resistance against corruption.”
Bassil’s remarks came after he and other FPM ministers clashed with PSP Ministers Ghazi Aridi and Wael Abou Faour over several controversial issues.
The dispute raised fears over a protracted crisis in the government. Informed sources said officials were also expressing fears that the prolonged dispute would lead to an accumulated cabinet agenda.
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