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BEIRUT: Parliament is set to meet Wednesday to name five of the Constitutional Councils 10 members, effectively launching the first major step in a series of long-awaited public appointments to fill key vacant administrative and judicial posts.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday returned to Beirut from Paris after a visit to Abu Dhabi. The premier will attend the Parliament meeting before chairing a Cabinet session Thursday at the Grand Serail, a source close to Hariri told The Daily Star.
The Cabinet will discuss items that were not tackled on the agenda of last weeks session, in addition to new topics, the state-run National News Agency reported, without giving further details.
A political source ruled out the possibility of the Cabinet Thursday appointing the other five members of the Constitutional Council, whose six-year mandate expired in 2015.
The appointment of a new Constitutional Council was held up due to the presidential vacuum that lasted more than two years and a half, the nearly nine-month delay in the Cabinet formation, as well as the draft 2019 state budget that was endorsed by the Cabinet last month, the source told The Daily Star.
Speaker Nabih Berri is set to chair the parliamentary legislative session before noon Wednesday to address a 17-item agenda that includes the naming of the five members of the Constitutional Council.
Media reports said consensus had been reached among the main parties represented in the government on the councils five members to be named by lawmakers. These are: Judge Tanious Shalab (Maronite), Judge Antoine Breidi (Greek Orthodox), Judge Akram Baassiri (Sunni), Judge Aouni Ramadan (Shiite), and Judge Riad Abu Ghaide (Druze).
The anticipated public appointments, including the Constitutional Councils nominees, were discussed during a meeting Monday between Berri and Minister of State for Presidency Affairs Salim Jreissati, who said he relayed to the speaker President Michel Aouns wish that the appointments take place based on merit and competence.
Former Minister Melhem Riachi, a special envoy of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, met with Berri Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the Constitutional Councils appointments.Public appointments, a sensitive issue that had caused divisions within the Cabinet in the past, appeared to have stirred rivalry between the countrys two main Christian parties, the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement LF. The LF has expressed concerns over attempts by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, to gain a monopoly over key state posts allotted to Christians.
The legislative sessions agenda also includes an emergency spending provision known as the provisional twelfth, which allows the state to spend money in the absence of an official budget.
The measure was supposed to be used for only one month, January, but was controversially extended until the end of May earlier this year, based on an agreement between Berri and Hariri that the draft 2019 state budget would be approved by then.
But after the Cabinet delay in endorsing the draft budget, the Finance and Budget Committee earlier this month voted to extend the measure through mid-July, but Parliament must ratify it before it becomes law.
The Future Movements parliamentary bloc lamented the weekend tensions, reflected in a Twitter war between the movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, while reiterating its commitment to the 2016 political settlements that led to Aouns election as president and returned Hariri to the premiership.
In a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by Sidon MP Bahia Hariri, the bloc said it regretted delving into political and media rhetoric in the face of campaigns targeting Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Future Movement, especially when the campaigns were launched by allies, friends and comrades with whom we joined in defending the state, legitimacy, institutions and showing solidarity with the Syrian people in their uprising against injustice, crackdown and terrorism.
While stressing that dialogue is the only way to deal with differences and concerns, the bloc affirms its commitment to the requirements of the [2016] political settlement aiming to protect political stability as a main pillar for economic stability and administrative and financial reforms for which the Lebanese are aspiring, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Budget Committee endorsed in its session Tuesday night the budget allocations for the Ministry for the Displaced as well as the ministries of Youth and Sports, Culture and Environment, the NNA reported. The committee approved the amount of LL40 billion to the Fund for the Displaced after Minister for the Displaced Ghassan Atallah presented all required details and criteria, it said, adding that the committee also suspended operating fees for societies affiliated with all ministries.
Following the morning session, committee head MP Ibrahim Kanaan said the committee would finish reviewing the draft budget by early next week. We have held 22 sessions over 15 days ... we will finish early next week, Kanaan said on Twitter.
He added that lawmakers had so far amended 70 percent of the articles in the draft budget, which was approved by Cabinet on May 27.
During the session, which was attended by Interior Minister Raya El Hassan, the committee approved the allocations for the Interior Ministry.
It also decided that the 2020 budget will include allocations to start paying Civil Defense volunteers. The volunteers, which include ambulance first responders, rescue workers and firefighters, have held frequent protests demanding that Cabinet approve a decree to secure them paid work.
The committee has been meeting since June 3 to finish its review of the draft budget before referring it to Parliaments general assembly for ratification.
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