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Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said overnight that his call for broad administrative and financial decentralization and for establishing a trust fund is not part of any bargain or deal.

The equation of decentralization at the regional and local level and the trust fund at the national level is an equation for rescuing Lebanon at the financial, economic and social levels, regardless of any constitutional juncture, Bassil said at a dinner for FPM expats.

It is a vision for the future, not a bargain or deal, and its implementation might cost us political prices, the same as with the previous approval of the electoral law, the law on regaining citizenship and the expat voting law, Bassil added.

Bassil had said Saturday that he is "willing to sacrifice" regarding the next president's identity, clarifying that he will not "sacrifice the presidential post or powers." He said that the "sacrifice" would be in return for "two gains for Lebanon: broad administrative and financial decentralization and the trust fund."

He explained that the trust fund had been proposed by then-President Michel Aoun in an economic paper after the October 17 uprising.

"It would preserve the state's assets and ownership while they would be managed by the private sector, which would allow for improving the state's revenues, covering some of the financial gap and returning funds to depositors," Bassil clarified.

His remarks confirm media reports about the FPM's ongoing talks with Hezbollah.

"The two sides exchanged proposals for agreeing on the program and identity of the upcoming president, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

Bassil submitted a detailed work paper that involves an agenda for the coming period and addresses two main issues, the daily said.

Informed sources meanwhile told the newspaper that Bassils new paper focuses on two main elements: passing the broad administrative decentralization law in parliament and the law related to the trust fund.

Bassil requested that the comprehensive agreement be linked to the approval of the two laws and other matters prior to declaring support for a specific candidate, the daily said.

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Bassil says decentralization and trust fund demand not a 'bargain or ... - Naharnet