A unanimous vote was taken late yesterday evening. On Friday, parliamentary scrutiny begins, and the confidence vote should take place on Monday. The opposition has not accepted any formula entrusting the state with primacy in the matters of sovereignty and defense.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - A "ministerial declaration", meaning the platform of the national unity government, has been approved unanimously, but without resolving the controversial questions. Scrutiny of the text prepared by commission continued until late yesterday evening, and saw the confirmation of some of the reservations expressed by some of the ministers. But in order to safeguard unanimity, these were not added to the text of the document. "The ministers decided to present a united front" to parliament, explained information officer Tarek Mitri.

Concluded after 10:30 PM, the meeting of the ministers was described as "calm", and saw the mediating action of the president of the republic, Michel Suleiman. The text is being distributed today to the 127 deputies of the Lebanese parliament. In all likelihood, they will be convened on Friday to begin examining the declaration. The confidence vote for the new government of Fouad Siniora should take place next Monday.

This will officially begin the life of a government that has promised to be difficult from the beginning, as shown by the reservations raised yesterday evening. The most complex of these concerns the role of the "resistance", meaning Hezbollah, and its relationship with the national army and the Lebanese state itself. The pro-Syrian opposition, united under the name of "March 8", has in fact continued to reject attempts by the majority of "March 4" to introduce any sort of formula to entrust  to the state exclusivity or at lease supremacy in the right to defend the country. On the other hand, the demonstration of power shown by Hezbollah through the occupation of West Beirut and the shutdown of the entire capital does not leave much leeway in this matter.

Other controversial points have similarly gone unaddressed: from the decision to ask Syria about the fate of Lebanese prisoners detained in Damascus, to the permission for reentry of those who took refuge in Israel in 2000, but with examination of their behavior, to the question of the "stabilization" of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. (PD)

• lebanon
• national
• unity
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• parliament
• hezbollah