Lebanese Parliament likely to convene in two weeks: MP

BEIRUT: Parliament is expected to convene soon to address pressing draft laws, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said Saturday, in an attempt to break the months long legislative deadlock.

“The secretary general of Parliament will convene next week to set the agenda for a Parliament session,” Adwan told reporters after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh.

He said he expected Parliament to convene a legislative session in two weeks after Prime Minister Tammam Salam returns from New York. Parliament will most likely discuss the issuing of eurobonds and a draft law to retroactively legalize extrabudgetary government spending since 2005.

Adwan also said he and Berri discussed efforts to amend items related to the parliamentary election deadlines in terms of the period in which the government should call for the poll and the creation of the election committee.

The Cabinet has not yet approved the decree calling for the formation of a election supervisory committee, which the government should create 90 days before the scheduled poll.

“The amendments would guarantee that no one submits a challenge to the election in case they took place,” he said, referring to disputes over a proposal to extend Parliament’s mandate once again in less than two years.

Adwan said lawmakers had made progress in the draft law to raise the salaries of public sector employees and teacher, a long-waited proposal that civil servants and teachers have been protesting for.

“The legislative session is to legislate pressing matters ... because we do not want to hold anyone hostage to the fact the absence of a president,” he said.

Lawmakers with the March 14 coalition and other Christian MPs have refused to attend legislative sessions that Berri had called for, arguing that the legislative branch should only convene for urgent matter in the absence of a president.