BEIRUT: Barring last-minute hitches, the government crisis is expected to be resolved this week, clearing the way for the resumption of Cabinet sessions stalled since Feb. 1, three ministers said Sunday.

“The [Cabinet] crisis is headed toward a solution. Dialogue is under way between the labor minister and legal experts to find a legal solution for the problem over the transportation allowance decree,” Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud told The Daily Star.

Abboud said if a legal solution is found for the transportation allowance problem, Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas will sign the transportation decree ahead of a crucial Parliament session Wednesday, a development that would encourage Prime Minister Najib Mikati to reconvene the Cabinet this week.

Parliament is expected to vote Wednesday on two draft laws, one prepared by Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan and another by Future Bloc MP Nabil de Freij, which would authorize the Cabinet to set transportation and education allowances. Media reports said the two draft laws would be combined into one proposal to allow MPs from the March 8 and March 14 camps to ratify it during Wednesday’s legislative session, a move which would open the way to a resumption of Cabinet meetings.

Abboud said either way, Nahhas will eventually sign the transportation allowance decree, viewed by Mikati and President Michel Sleiman as a major hurdle in the way of resuming Cabinet sessions.“Once Parliament has endorsed the transportation allowance bill, Minister Nahhas cannot but sign the decree,” Abboud said.

Abboud and Nahhas are among 10 ministers representing FPM leader Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc in Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet.

Hezbollah’s Minister of State for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish said if Parliament approved the transportation allowance bill, Nahhas would no longer have any excuse not to sign the decree.

“The reconvening of the Cabinet this week depends on the results of Wednesday’s Parliament meeting,” Fneish told The Daily Star. He said that Hezbollah has been holding talks aimed at breaking the Cabinet impasse.

A source close to Mikati stressed that Nahhas’ signing of the transportation allowance decree was essential for resuming Cabinet sessions.

“It’s a matter between the labor minister and the Cabinet combined,” the source told The Daily Star. He said the crisis would persist unless Nahhas signed the transportation allowance bill.

Meanwhile, Sleiman said the Cabinet will definitely resume its sessions soon according to the rules of the Cabinet work. In an interview published in Al-Mustaqbal newspaper Sunday, Sleiman implicitly hit back at Aoun, saying that Nahhas must sign the transportation allowance decree or resign.

Asked to comment on Aoun’s recent verbal attacks on him, Sleiman said: “No one can attack the presidency. Anyone who attacks the presidency will be harmed. The presidency is like a rock on which waves are broken. Therefore, this matter [Aoun’s attacks] does not mean anything at all to me.”

Referring to Nahhas’ refusal to sign the transportation allowance bill, Sleiman said: “With regard to the ministers’ performance, the law and the Constitution have outlined the mechanism for the Cabinet’s work. When a vote takes place, the minister is obliged to implement the Cabinet’s decision. If he does not comply, he must have a pretext or else he must resign.”

Addressing Nahhas, Sleiman said: “Either you implement the Cabinet’s decision or you resign.”

Aoun has accused Mikati of violating the Constitution with the suspension of 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 defended his decision to suspend Cabinet meetings, saying the move was not meant to shirk responsibility but rather to protect state institutions.

The prime minister has signaled that Cabinet sessions could resume once Nahhas signs the transportation allowance decree. Nahhas has refused to sign the decree, contending that it should first be ratified by Parliament. However, Nahhas had signed a decree pertaining to the Cabinet’s decision to raise the minimum wage to LL675,000 from LL500,000.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel was also optimistic about a solution for the Cabinet crisis, saying that the labor minister would eventually sign the decree governing the transportation allowance. “Eventually, he [Nahhas] has to sign the decree given that the work of the government cannot [proceed] unless ministers respect Cabinet decisions,” Charbel told The Daily Star Sunday.

Charbel said that the issue between Mikati and Aoun’s ministers was not personal, voicing optimism that the crisis would not last much longer. “The crisis will certainly be resolved soon,” he said, but added that the dispute behind it would have to be tackled first.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi said the crisis over the suspension of the Cabinet sessions reflected “charged hearts” between Aoun on the one hand, and Sleiman and Mikati on the other.

In an interview with Al-Fajr radio station, Aridi, one of three ministers representing Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt in the Cabinet, criticized verbal attacks by Aoun’s ministers on Sleiman. Aoun has accused Sleiman and Mikati of forging “a diabolical alliance” against him in the Cabinet.

Mikati has implicitly accused Aoun’s ministers of obstructing the Cabinet’s work, saying he will not allow anyone to undermine the prime minister’s prerogatives. – With additional reporting by Dana Khraiche