BEIRUT, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri threatened that a new prime minister would be named if the 30-day consultation period ends without finalizing the cabinet policy statement, local As-Safier daily reported Monday.

    Lebanese President Michel Suleiman have assigned Prime Minister Fouad Seniora to form the national unity government which took over a month of consultation to be formed.

    "Time is passing at the expenses of the country's peace and stability," Berri said.

    The ministerial committee assigned to draft the cabinet policy statement met for the tenth time Sunday night, but did not succeed in finalizing the statement.

    Three weeks after the national unity government was formed, disputed issues such as Hezbollah weapons, Syrian-Lebanese relations and economic reforms became the main obstacles to the drafting of the statement.

    Hezbollah insisted that the policy statement should include clear adherence to the "resistance role" as outlined in the previous cabinet policy statement in 2005, but majority leaders rejected this suggestion and insisted that the state, not Hezbollah, should be responsible for the resistance.