20 August 2008

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri said in comments published Tuesday that he will invite Parliament to convene next week to discuss the economic situation as well as the living conditions of the Lebanese.

Parliament will also convene in September during a series of other extraordinary sessions, Berri told As-Safir newspaper.

President Michel Sleiman issued a decree last Wednesday calling on Parliament to convene in an extraordinary session from August 19 until October 20.

The decree said Parliament would discuss the 2006, 2007 and 2008 state budgets during the session as well as other draft laws related to it.

Parliament convenes twice a year in two ordinary sessions - the first starts mid-march until the end of May and the second from the middle of October through the end of December.

As-Safir quoted sources as saying that the parliamentary election law along with living conditions will top the agenda of the extraordinary sessions.

The daily said that Parliament's administrative and justice committee would come up  with a final draft for the elections law in a few weeks "which would make it possible to ratify the law during the extraordinary Parliament session."

Meanwhile, three parliamentary committees convened on Tuesday to discuss economic, defense and telecommunication issues.

The Finance and Budget Commission, headed by MP Samir Azar of the Development and Liberation bloc of Speaker Berri, approved projects that would allow the Cabinet to sign agreements to activate investments.

The commission also postponed a number of decisions at the request of the Cabinet, such as joining the Hague Conference on Private International Law and the duty-free zone with Jordan. The Finance and Budget Commission comprises the interior, industry and finance ministers. 

Also on Tuesday, the Defense Commission led by MP Samir al-Jisr agreed to study a draft law proposed by MP Robert Ghanem on administrative decentralization.

MP Hassan Fadlallah of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc headed a meeting by the Information and Communication Commission with Telecommunications Minister Gibran Bassil over Bassil's agenda and Lebanon's mobile phone network. Fadlallah called on Bassil to improve failing mobile phone services and to lower inflated phone charges. Bassil presented a work plan for privatization, proposing to increase the government's income in the telecommunications sector by cracking down on illegal international calls.

The meeting also discussed legal measures within the sector, such as phone tapping and the right to access SMS text messages sent through Lebanon's two mobile phone service providers.

MP Mohammad Kabbara of the Tripoli Bloc criticized electricity blackouts in Tripoli, saying he feared Energy Minister Alain Tabourian could be taking revenge on behalf of his party, the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun. Kabbara said that Tripoli's rights were a red line that could not be crossed. - The Daily Star

© Copyright The Daily Star 2008.

 

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