Labor Minister Charbel
Nahhas said in remarks published on Saturday that the current cabinet impasse
“seems to be related to the [issue of the] extension of the protocol” between
the Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Media outlets reported the
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a letter to President Michel Sleiman
calling on him to adopt a standpoint regarding the extension of the protocol
between Lebanon and the STL probing the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik
Hariri for another three years.
Four members of Hezbollah
have been indicted by the UN-backed tribunal.
However, Hezbollah strongly
denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.
During an interview with Al-Jumhuriya newspaper, Nahhas said that
there “should be [new] rules and procedures that would guide the work
of the executive authority.”
Nahhas also said that he is
“determined not to sign the transportation allowance decree” and reiterated
that the decree “is illegal.”
The minister voiced his
surprise over how “the General Workers Union’s leadership would stand against
the actual interests of the workers.”
The labor minister told Al-Jumhuriya that he is “working on a
new law” to settle the matter.
Nahhas has been refusing to
sign the decree on transportation allowances that had been negotiated between
the Economic Committees and the General Workers Union.
This controversial issue
has lead Prime Minister Najib Mikati to suspend cabinet sessions until a resolution
is found.
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