the Daily Star - Meeting on EDL jobs crisis adjourned due to tensions, June 7 2012

BEIRUT: A parliamentary subcommittee meeting to discuss a draft law authorizing Electricite du Liban to offer full employment to nearly 1,200 contract and part-time workers was adjourned shortly after it convened Wednesday due to a tense atmosphere.

Political sources told The Daily Star that the attendance of Energy Minister Gebran Bassil and Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who had not been invited, contributed to the tension.

Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani, the head of the subcommittee and a fierce critic of Bassil’s policies, told reporters the session had been adjourned to allow further talks among officials.

Bassil and Free Patriotic Movement MPs continue to insist on an earlier proposal to hire only 700 of the workers. Qabbani told Prime Minister Najib Mikati by telephone Wednesday that the committee was working to prevent escalation, asking that judicial summons against EDL workers be suspended. 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jun-07/176015-meeting-on-edl-jobs-crisis-adjourned-due-to-tensions.ashx#axzz1x5XqZCLy