A senior government official has said that contacts in the last few days between the government, the Muslim Brotherhood group and its Freedom and Justice Party succeeded in persuading the group to rescind its position regarding the withdrawal of confidence from the government, due to its adverse ramifications on the Egyptian economy and the government's request for a loan from the International Monetary Fund, in addition to the fact that such a position is not constitutional.
According to the Constitutional Declaration, Parliament has no authority to dissolve the government, which only the ruling military council can do.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the ministers of planning and finance met with representatives of the FJP and the Salafi Nour Party on Wednesday to explain the need for borrowing from abroad in light of the budget deficit and the decline in foreign reserves.
The recent period witnessed tension in the relations between the Brotherhood and the ruling junta when the former insisted on replacing the government with another one under its leadership, while the latter said the current government will remain until the end of the transitional period on 30 June.
Parliament, which is dominated by the FJP and the Nour Party, had in late February rejected the government’s briefing of its performance since it was appointed in December 2011.
The official told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the FJP realized it cannot withdraw confidence from the government, and that it is useless to continue such a quest, and will suffice with submitting requests for information to the government without embarrassing the prime minister by summoning him for interrogation.
He also said that it may take several weeks to convince the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis of the solutions that the government proposes for the economic crisis, and of the fact that failure to comply with the government would lead to economic disasters.
He added that the government agreed to brief the two parties next week on the details of the US$3.2 billion loan from the IMF. The IMF conditioned the loan on all political forces agreeing to it.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
