ANSD : Lebanon: Cabinet policy statement commits to reforms

TUE 26 - 11 - 2024

Date: Feb 12, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Lebanon: Cabinet policy statement commits to reforms

BEIRUT: The Cabinet's policy statement, presented in full for the first time before Parliament Tuesday morning, reflects the government’s commitment to enacting reforms in sectors including electricity, economics and finance and the environment.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri read the statement at a parliamentary session held to discuss and endorse the policy statement before lawmakers eventually decide on whether to provide the new government a vote of confidence.

“We want this government to be one of actions and not just words. We want this government to be one for bold reforms and one that speaks to the sufferings of the Lebanese people and the aspirations of the Lebanese people,” Hariri told the MPs.

Among the government’s top priorities will also be political stability and social security, the premier added.

The policy statement was drafted by a 10-member ministerial committee after the new government was formed on Jan. 31.

Tuesday’s session will be followed by another one Wednesday that will be led by Speaker Nabih Berri and during which the MPs will discuss the policy statement.

To gain confidence, the Cabinet must secure the support of 65 MPs, or half of Parliament’s 128 members plus one. Hariri said over the weekend that he believes the government will get at least 100 votes.

At least three MPs will not be supporting the Cabinet, however. MP Elias Hankash of the Kataeb Party told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.3) Tuesday that his party's MPs will not give Hariri's Cabinet their confidence vote.

Kataeb has three lawmakers in Parliament. The party is not represented in the new government, as it considers itself the opposition.

The party had made the decision "unanimously during a meeting of the [Kataeb] political office yesterday [Monday] evening," Hankash said.

New Cabinet to face Parliament vote

_{Joseph Haboush| The Daily Star}
BEIRUT: A majority of Lebanon’s lawmakers are expected to give their vote of confidence in the new government when Parliament convenes Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the new Cabinet’s policy statement.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri believes that his government will get at least 100 out of the 128 possible votes, he said over the weekend from the World Government Summit in Dubai.

“We will do our job and the MPs have the freedom to vote as they wish. The government includes most political parties, and it is a consensus government. If the parties represented by the government are counted, the government will receive at least 100 votes,” he said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will head the two-day session Tuesday and Wednesday with morning and evening meetings. The lawmakers will vote on the policy statement, which was drafted in less than a week by a 10-member ministerial committee and will put forth the new government’s main objectives.

Hariri told the audience at the summit that this government would be different because its policy includes all the laws that must pass in Parliament and “we took a unanimous decision from all political parties that this is the only way to save Lebanon.”

But the legislative branch’s single civil society lawmaker isn’t buying the argument.

“This is a copy of the former government with the same ingredients except a different distribution of shares,” MP Paula Yacoubian told The Daily Star.

Without stating names, she said that the two most corrupt ministers in the last government, who Yacoubian accused of making mistakes and making the Lebanese people pay the price, have remained in their posts.

She said that the increase in female representation in the new government was the only positive development, but said there was no indication that this government will do anything differently than the previous one.

“So for sure, [I’ll vote] no confidence. They [ministers] don’t trust each other. So how will the people or me trust them?”

Another party that has voiced opposition to the government - despite being represented in it - is the Progressive Socialist Party.

Walid Joumblatt, the PSP leader, launched a scathing tirade against Hariri in the first days of the new government, claiming that the premier and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil were abandoning the Taif Accord, which ended the 1975-90 Civil War.

Joumblatt also told Hariri via Twitter while ministers were drafting the policy statement that the state was not the premier’s “property.“

Although an understanding was reached and calm restored between the two sides, the PSP will not remain quiet Tuesday.

“We will give our vote of confidence as we are part of the government, but we have fundamental reservations,” said Wael Abu Faour, the new industry minister and an MP affiliated with the PSP.

The Lebanese Forces are expected to give a vote of confidence in the government along with a statement registering opposition to an article dealing with the means of resisting the Israeli occupation, an indirect reference to Hezbollah’s weapons.

The new government’s policy statement will retain the language used in the last government’s regarding Hezbollah’s arms. It states that the government will spare no effort to liberate remaining occupied land, while simultaneously stressing “the right of the state with its institutions and people to resist Israeli occupation and repulse its attacks.”

The LF requested that “legal state” be added before “institutions,” but it was not added.

The three-member bloc of the Kataeb Party, which is now a self-declared opposition party, might also refuse to give their vote of confidence in the new government.

Hariri’s political allies in the now-defunct March 14 coalition appear to be the only ones who will have reservations, implying his government is set to receive a sweeping majority of votes.

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