BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday his government is continuing to operate, although the Cabinet crisis, which broke out earlier this month over administrative appointments, has yet to be resolved.

Sources close to Mikati told The Daily Star discussions are under way for a solution.“The government is continuing and there is no problem in the Cabinet,” Mikati told reporters after visiting Speaker Nabih Berri at his residence in Ain al-Tineh.

“I informed Speaker Berri of some topics of common interest, and some topics which were brought up in Paris,” added Mikati, who went on an official visit to France last week.

Asked when Cabinet sessions would resume, Mikati said: “When the matter is resolved, we will immediately call for a session ... it has yet to be resolved.”

Sources close to Mikati said that recent developments could lead to a resolution of the government crisis, which began when the prime minister abruptly ended a Cabinet session on Feb.1 over sharp differences with ministers from Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc on the appointment for the head for the High Disciplinary Committee, and suspended future sessions. The position is traditionally reserved for Greek Catholics.

Mikati insisted that the Cabinet would resume its sessions only when an agreement was reached on a formula to make the government’s work productive, but the prime minister has hinted that he would resume Cabinet sessions if Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas signs a transportation allowance decree.

Last month, Nahhas, from Aoun’s bloc, signed a Cabinet decree approving a wage hike, which increased the minimum wage among other measures. Nahhas refused to sign a decree under which the government would set the transportation allowance, arguing that this was illegal and required a draft law to be passed by Parliament.

President Michel Sleiman was outraged by Nahhas’s stance, saying that previous Cabinets had set transportation fees and that was the norm.

The same sources said that a possible solution had been discussed Wednesday at the Grand Serail by Mikati and Energy Minister Gibran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law.

The sources voiced their belief that any solution should come before Feb. 22, the date of a legislative session called by Berri.

According to the sources, discussion is focusing on a way out that would allow the prime minister to emerge without looking like he succumbed to the demands of one bloc in his Cabinet without putting Nahhas in a humiliating position, given that he has argued that it’s illegal for him to sign the decree.

The same sources said that such a solution would be a prelude to a new phase in relations between Mikati and ministers from the Change and Reform bloc.

But speaking to The Daily Star, sources from the Change and Reform bloc denied any information about an impending solution. They said that the bloc maintains its position and its plan for the bloc’s lawmakers to put forward a draft law on the transportation allowance to Parliament so MPs can make a decision during the legislative session on Feb.22.

For his part, Berri was quoted by MPs who attended his weekly meeting with lawmakers as saying that he had not been persuaded so far to step in to mediate the Cabinet crisis.A heated debate between Nahhas and Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud was reported at the bloc’s weekly meeting under Aoun Tuesday.

Some members of the bloc argue that Nahhas brought the bloc into an unnecessary confrontation with Mikati.

Separately, Sleiman said that the mechanism for administrative appointments should be respected as it is democratic.

“We have laid down a mechanism which we have to respect. If we do not, then this means that we are moving away from the spirit of democracy. We have to accept the results of this mechanism just like we accept the results of elections,” Sleiman said in a speech at Baabda Palace.

Aoun stresses that he is not against the mechanism for administrative appointments, under which the relevant minster nominates three candidates for one post.

But he argues that he represents the Christians in the Cabinet and that he should be consulted on the issue regarding a candidate for the head of the High Disciplinary Committee.

He says that Sleiman is not a representative of Christians, but should play the role of an “arbitrator” in the Cabinet.