BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati defended Thursday his decision to suspend Cabinet meetings, saying the move was not meant to shirk responsibility but rather to protect state institutions.

“What happened in the past few days at the government level was not and will never be an evasion of responsibility. On the contrary, [it was meant] to protect constitutional institutions which must remain free of political bickering,” Mikati said in a speech during a ceremony marking the rehabilitation of Pier 16 at Beirut Port.

“Any solution to the current situation must take into consideration the proper work of constitutional institutions. Let our practice of democracy be an embodiment of the genuine national partnership in an unambiguous way,” he added.

Mikati was referring to the 2-week-old Cabinet crisis sparked by a dispute with ministers from MP Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc over civil service appointments.

Aoun accused Mikati Tuesday of violating the Constitution with the suspension on Feb. 1 of Cabinet sessions following sharp differences with ministers from Aoun’s bloc over appointments of Christians to key posts in the public administration.

Aoun’s ministers rejected names that were proposed by Mikati to head the High Disciplinary Committee, a position traditionally reserved for Greek Catholics.

Mikati has signaled that Cabinet sessions could resume once Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas signs the transportation allowance decree. Nahhas, one of Aoun’s 10 ministers in Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet, has refused to sign the decree, contending that it should first be ratified by Parliament.

Taking a direct swipe at Aoun, who has insisted on having the lion’s share of Christian appointment in the public administration, Mikati said: “It is not permissible for some of us to presume that he represents in his personality, his movement or his party all partners of the country. Governance is an act of responsibility. It is everyone’s responsibility to give priority to the national interest.”

He added that each official must respect the institutions and those in charge of them, rather than “raise the slogans of challenge and nervousness which undermine stability and plunge the state into conflicts for which the citizen, who is yearning for a better tomorrow, pays the price.”

Mikati stressed that national unity was essential for Lebanon’s stability amid the wave of popular upheavals roiling the Arab world.

“The stability we are witnessing is not only confined to security, but also to political, economic and social stability. This means that responsibility is not the monopoly of those holding government positions, but also of those who are out,” Mikati added.

“National unity is the guarantee for Lebanon to remain secure, stable and capable of confronting challenges,” he said. “Positive cooperation and interaction will lead to these results.” Referring to the splits within his Cabinet, Mikati said: “The logic of matters is to believe in the concept of the state and work to elevate it and to let our opinions interact with those of others because a genuine national partnership cannot be based on rejection or imposition, but on accepting the opinion of others.”

Mikati implicitly defended his government’s controversial policy to dissociate itself from the repercussions of the 11-month-old unrest in Syria. This policy has been harshly criticized by the opposition March 14 parties which staunchly support Syrian protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

“We are determined to continue the [peace] march no matter how fierce storms become because we rely on citizens’ compass, which will definitely lead us to the shore’s safety,” he said, adding: “We have succeeded in keeping the Lebanese ship away from rough waves. Why do some try to break [the ship’s] engine in order to make it lose its balance? Do some want to repeat the painful experiences through which Lebanon has passed?”

Mikati has accused Aoun’s ministers of obstructing the work of the Cabinet, saying he will not allow anyone to undermine the prime minister’s prerogatives. He has since said that he will not resume Cabinet sessions before agreement is reached on a formula to make the government productive.

Last month, Nahhas signed a Cabinet decree approving a wage hike which increased the minimum wage, among other measures. However, he refused to sign a decree under which the government would set the transportation allowance, arguing that this was illegal and required that a draft law 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.

Sleiman reiterated Thursday the need for Nahhas to sign the transportation allowance decree. “The transport allowance issue must not be left unsettled,” he said in an indirect reference to Nahhas.

“We call for respecting the Cabinet decision which has traditionally been applied for the past 16 years and has become akin to a law,” Sleiman told a delegation of the General Labor Confederation headed by Ghassan Ghosn.

Noting that the Cabinet decision called for amending the transportation draft law to serve the workers’ interest, Sleiman said: “Laws are drafted to serve the citizens’ interest in the first place. It is illogical to accept the amendment of the law and not issue the decree to continue paying the [transportation] allowances in order to maintain social order.”

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc held the government responsible for the suspension of Cabinet decisions and the state of insecurity in the northern city of Tripoli following last week’s clashes between rival factions, which left three people dead and more than 20 wounded.

A statement issued after the bloc’s weekly meeting also accused the government of protecting four Hezbollah members indicted in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “It has become clear that the country cannot continue in this situation, which is baffling for citizens, the country and its economy for which the Lebanese citizen is paying the price, affecting his life and the future of his sons,” the statement said.