Lebanon's prime minister on Saturday defended the performance of his government during this summer's war with Israel, saying it had maintained national unity in the face of widespread devastation.
Fuad Siniora was speaking after a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and ahead of multi-party consultations next week to discuss the possibility of forming a national unity cabinet.
"The principle of a national unity government is something that you work for," Siniora said, denying suggestions that he had caved in by agreeing to participate in the consultations.
"We don't really want to make a jump into the unknown, we have to be ready to make a jump into the known," he argued.
"This government is by itself a government that represents most of the political groups in the country" and it "has already demonstrated a high level of leadership in tackling most abuses.
"This is the government that managed to preserve the unity of the Lebanese in the face of major attacks."
He was referring to the 34-day war that erupted in July after Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers and the Jewish state retaliated by invading the country.
Solana strongly endorsed Siniora, saying "the people of Europe appreciate a lot the dignity with which you have been running (your country) at this complicated time.
"You are going to have the support of the European Union in the times ahead of us," he said, while acknowledging that "it will not be easy".
The unity talks are expected to begin on Monday, but Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament and head of Amal group, said they might not start until on Wednesday.
Berri called on Wednesday for fresh talks across the sectarian divide to form a national unity government and drag the country out of a crippling political stalemate.
He suggested that the talks, which would resume roundtable discussions held earlier this year, might also agree on reforming electoral law.
Those two issues are key demands of Hizbullah and its Christian and pro-Syrian allies.
Solana met earlier on Saturday with Berri, an ally of Hizbullah. Amal has three members of its own in the cabinet.
Afterwards, he said "dialogue is something which is good in itself. We hope the product of the dialogue will be a constructive one for the future of Lebanon".
Solana also met with the French commander of the enlarged United Nations peacekeeping force that is being deployed following adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that led to an August 14 cease-fire.
General Alain Pellegrini urged him to put pressure on Israel to end its controversial over flights of Lebanon, a UN official said. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has complained that the continued over flights are harming its mission.
Pellegrini raised the issue during a 40-minute meeting with Solana, who is on the second leg of a four-nation Middle East trip, in Beirut.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said on Sunday his country would continue the over flights, claiming they were needed to stem alleged arms smuggling to Hizbullah.
"The Lebanese government is falling short of carrying out its commitment" under Resolution 1701, the defence ministry quoted Peretz as saying.
UNIFIL spokesman Daljeet Bagga said there were "sometimes between nine and 15 flights a day, which is quite a lot actually". They occur "sometimes late at night".
"It is very discomforting for the Lebanese; it could easily lead to some incident," Bagga said.
Asked about Israel's claims that arms were being smuggled to Hizbullah, he replied: "We have no idea really whether weapons are coming in or not -- we are not really sure."
The UNIFIL deployment would swell to around 10,000 by early December, which an EU official accompanying Solana said would be "a very satisfactory level".
Bagga said UNIFIL currently comprised about 8,000 to 9,000 troops.
Under the resolution, UNIFIL is to be boosted from its previous level of 2,000 to 15,000, with European countries providing 7,000.