BEIRUT: The government should adopt a new decision-making mechanism while the presidency remains vacant, Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said Monday after holding talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
“Until a new president is elected, which should happen as soon as possible, we should come up with a way to make decisions which the country needs,” Harb told reporters after meeting Hariri at his Downtown Beirut residence. “Everybody knows that the absence of a president has a significant effect on the course of politics and on the course of the democratic system in Lebanon and its institutions.”
The Cabinet adopted a system which requires unanimous backing among all 24 ministers to approve decisions after President Michel Sleiman’s term ended last May. With the presidential seat still vacant, the government is still exercising the powers of the president.
The current system, not stipulated in the Constitution, allows ministers to veto any decision, which has significantly hindered the work of the government.
According to the new arrangement, the Cabinet meets with a two-thirds quorum, passes regular decisions with a simple majority vote and major ones, as stipulated in Article 65, with two-thirds of its members.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that he would not hold more Cabinet sessions before an agreement is reached on a new decision-making mechanism.
“The meeting today was an opportunity to discuss the atmosphere in Cabinet and the confusion faced by executive powers with the lack of a more effective decision-making mechanism, in light of the presidential vacuum,” Harb said.
Harb explained that he discussed with Hariri the possibility of agreeing on a unified vision on how to address the presidential vacuum.
Hariri also met Monday with U.S. Ambassador David Hale, French Ambassador Patrice Paoli and Moroccan Ambassador Ali Oumlil.
Hariri arrived in Beirut late last week to participate in a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of his father’s killing.
Hariri’s last visit to Lebanon was in August following deadly clashes between the Lebanese Army and Islamist militants in the northeast town of Arsal. He has been living outside Lebanon since January 2011 over security concerns.
Congratulating Hariri on his return via telephone Monday were Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh and Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi.
Meanwhile, Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel warned that an attempt was being made to “adapt to the presidential vacuum and manage the country’s affairs [indefinitely] without a president.”
Speaking after the weekly meeting of the Kataeb politburo, Gemayel said those behind this attempt were “playing with fire.”
“This poses danger to the country’s top post, and all sides, particularly Christian groups, are responsible for this danger,” Gemayel said.
He said there was a “regional decision to keep Lebanon in the freezer and keep things under control by refraining from electing a president.”
The lawmaker urged his colleagues from Christian and other political parties to elect one of the contending figures to the presidency under the sponsorship of the Maronite patriarchate.
“Abandoning this means that we are opening the door for external meddling in the presidential election,” he added.
Gemayel said that presidential election should be at the core of bilateral talks taking place between the Future Movement and Hezbollah and between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces.
Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat highlighted the need for changing the government’s decision-making system, saying it infringed on the powers of the prime minister, paralyzed the government and even surpassed the prerogatives of the president.
“We hope that an amendment will happen to facilitate the work of the government so that it becomes more effective ... and more productive,” Fatfat told reporters after visiting Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian. “I know that Prime Minister Tammam Salam is exerting great efforts in this regard.”
Echoing Fatfat, MP Qassem Hashem, from Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc, said that Salam and Berri were working on coming up with a new mechanism to end paralysis in the Cabinet.
“Everybody is convinced that paralysis will reflect negatively on all parties ... thus, all sides will deal flexibly with steps by Berri and Salam to revive the Cabinet.”
No comments:
Post a Comment