By
Wassim Mroue
BEIRUT:
Parliament passed Monday a draft law to cover public spending for 2012 after
introducing amendments, ending months of bickering between March 8 and March 14
groups over state expenditure. The legislature also resolved the thorny issue
of Electricite du Liban part-time workers, endorsing a draft law to make
electricity fee collectors and on demand workers sit for a closed-contest to
become full-time employees.
During
the first of a two-day legislative session, an amendment was introduced to the
draft law which initially allocated LL11.561 trillion ($7.67 billion) in
advanced payments and treasury loans, reducing the amount by 20 percent to
9.248 trillion.
Prime
Minister Najib Mikati told Parliament that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
voiced concern that the government does not intend to prepare the 2012 budget,
replacing it by the draft law.
“But
we stressed that before the end of July, the draft budget will be forwarded to
Parliament,” he added. The last time Parliament endorsed a budget was in 2005.
The
premier said that the additional allocations would cover the state’s
expenditure until the end of October.
The
agreement came just hours after Mikati discussed the draft law with Speaker
Nabih Berri, Deputy Speaker Farid Makari, Siniora and Chouf MP George Adwan,
from the Lebanese Forces.
Shortly
before the passing of the draft law, Mikati, Siniora, Free Patriotic Movement
leader Michel Aoun, and Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political aide to
Berri, were seen entering and exiting the hall. The session was also attended
by Zghorta MP Suleiman Franjieh.
The
draft law to make EDL part-time workers full-time employees saw fierce debate
between Energy Minister Gibran Bassil and Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani, the
chairman of Parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee.
Qabbani
accused Bassil of “lying,” when he claimed that the EDL workers in question do
not get paid by the company, but from contractors working for EDL.
Several
amendments were introduced to the draft law. Contract employees and temporary
workers were dropped from the list of workers who will become full time
employees.
Also
amended was the role of the Civil Service Council, which will now “hold” an
examination limited to EDL workers, rather than merely “supervising” the
process.
MPs
from Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, the Kataeb bloc and Lebanese Forces
opposed the draft law, asking for further amendments.
Parliament
also passed a long-awaited traffic law, discussed by MPs over the past nine
years. The law saw a lengthy debate, as lawmakers discussed whether MPs and
other state officials should retain their special license plates.
Qabbani,
who authored the 420-item draft law along with Internal Security Forces,
presented to MPs a version of article 154, which tackles the thorny issue of
license plates.
According
to the article, MPs, ministers and top officials will keep their distinguished
plates and MPs will still have blue license plates. The draft law was opposed
by several MPs who called for treating all people equally, and was passed
without article 154’s inclusion. Berri promised that a draft law addressing the
matter would be on the agenda of the first upcoming legislative session.
The
legislature also passed a draft law allowing the government to issue Treasury
loans in Lebanese liras and dollars to pay the LL120 billion it owes to private
hospitals accumulated between 2001 and 2011.
MPs
ratified a $200 million loan agreement to implement a project to channel the
waters of the Awali River on the northern entrance to Sidon to Beirut. The
agreements are between the Lebanese Republic and the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development.
At
the beginning of the session, March 14 MPs lashed out at the government and its
inaction on Syrian violations of Lebanese sovereignty. Syrian troops crossed
into Lebanon and briefly detained two General Security members.
Lighter moments also found
their way to the session. When Beirut MP Nabil de Freij, from the Future
Movement, asked about the exact law which stipulates that MPs have blue license
plates, Berri asked: “Don’t you support blue?”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jul-03/179154-parliament-endorses-extra-spending-measures.ashx#axzz1zZJnh1LU
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