Lebanese premier announces birth of long-waited Cabinet

By Ali Abo Rezeg

ANKARA (AA) - Following an eight-month deadlock, Lebanon’s prime minister on Thursday officially announced the country has a new Cabinet.

Following a meeting with the country’s president, Saad Hariri told reporters at the Baabda presidential palace in the capital Beirut that a Cabinet had finally been formed.

"We apologize to the Lebanese people about the delay of the Cabinet formation," Hariri said.

Ever since Lebanon held parliamentary polls last May, Hariri has struggled to draw up a new government.

"Solving the country's problems and overcoming the economic crisis can be achieved only by [national] consensus," he added.

A well-informed source who asked not to be named told Anadolu Agency earlier Thursday that Hariri had already gone to the presidential palace to submit the proposed government lineup.

According to the same source, the new lineup includes 30 Cabinet ministers from all of the country’s main political factions.

Earlier Thursday Hariri said in televised remarks that "the incoming government will have to make difficult choices, not least of which will be how to reduce the state budget."

The process of forming a cabinet has faced repeated delays amid mutual recriminations between leading political forces and demands by certain parties for greater representation.