Cabinet to shy away from divisive issues

BEIRUT: A cabinet session that kicked-off Wednesday will likely avoid divisive issues such as the legality of civil marriages and the controversy surrounding the Beirut Port’s fourth basin, ministerial sources said.

Speaking before a session chaired by Prime Minister Tammam at The Grand Serail, ministerial sources revealed that a vast majority in Cabinet oppose legalizing civil marriages performed in Lebanon. “Even if the bill was proposed in Cabinet it would not pass,” sources told The Daily Star.

Hezbollah’s Minister of State Mohammad Fneish categorically said that “there is no place for civil marriage in [Lebanese] laws.”

The Future Movement’s Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said his party’s stance on the issue remains unchanged since it was opposed by then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri back in 1998.

An optional civil marriage bill drafted at the request of former President Elias Hrawi was shelved by Hariri because of staunch opposition from religious authorities, especially the Muslim clergy.

As the meeting went on, NGOs and civil rights activists demonstrated outside the Grand Serail to press for the recognition of a number of civil marriage performed in Lebanon under the mandate of former Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.

Ministerial sources told The Daily Star that Salam will most likely take the lead on the controversial issue of Beirut Port’s fourth basin without delving deep in to the issue during cabinet session. According to the source, Salam will launch contacts with the relevant parties in an effort to reach a solution.

Truck drivers Tuesday suspended an open-ended strike that disrupted work at Beirut port after Salam promised to find a solution to the row over the filling of the fourth basin in agreement with all parties.

The decision by port authorities to resume work on the fourth basin had prompted a syndicate of truck drivers to launch an open-ended strike Monday in a bid to pressure the government into permanently halting the controversial project that critics say could jeopardize 1,500 jobs.