Berri Urges Miqati to Call for Extraordinary Session to Tackle Petroleum File
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed concern over the “ongoing tampering with Lebanon's oil wealth,” wondering about the reasons that are preventing caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati from calling for an “extraordinary” cabinet session to tackle two decrees essential to award the oil blocs for the oil companies.
“Miqati's hesitating stance is questionable,” Berri said in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.
The speaker lashed out at his foes, saying: “they are delusional if they think they can manipulate me.”
He urged Miqati to call for the cabinet to convene and allow each side to declare its stance over the matter.
“We should kick off a debate during the session to discuss the oil blocks and tenders... Either they succeed in convincing us or we convince them,” Berri told As Safir.
He pointed out that there's an agreement that the cabinet should hold a session to discuss the petroleum file even if the formation of the new cabinet was delayed, noting that holding a session to tackle the two decrees doesn't violate the constitution.
The decrees call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.
Miqati argues that holding a session for the cabinet requires a unanimous political agreement, pointing out that a caretaker cabinet can't approve non-essential decrees.
Acute discord among Lebanese officials is delaying the awarding of 10 of the oil blocks.
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil postponed again on Friday the oil and gas tenders from December 10, 2013 to January 10, 2014 after the cabinet failed once again to convene to approve the two decrees.
The country's oil and gas wealth attracted around 46 Arab and international companies in the second pre-qualification round of the tenders process.
Berri told As Safir that approving the two decrees preserves Lebanon's oil wealth from any Israeli exploitation.
He pointed out that assigning the 10 oil blocks fortifies transparency and blocks any suspicious deals.
Bassil is calling for assigning only two for the meantime.
Lebanon has been slow to exploit its maritime resources compared with other eastern Mediterranean countries. Israel, Cyprus and Turkey are all much more advanced in drilling for oil and gas.
Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves there could generate billions of dollars.
09 October 2013, 12:17
58
He robbed the land, the shores, and now he wants to rob the deep seas. When is enough enough for you Mr. Berri? How much do you need after the $2 billion you already have, when people are dying to escape from Lebanon? 3ayb!!!!!!!
09 October 2013, 12:21
75
I do not trust any of our politicians with OUR NATIONAL WEALTH and call for the formation of an independent body reporting to the to a Committee made up of the President, Prime Minister, Energy Minister, and Minister of Finance to oversee the process.
09 October 2013, 16:45
61
Yeah and you can tell by the number of Thumbs Up and Thumbs down that we both received. How does the creation of a competent committee by counterproductive, and counterproductive to what? Make some sense and people will probably learn to eventually respect what you say
09 October 2013, 14:08
19
@phoenix our esteemed politicians will never allow for the UN to take over. The Gas is the prize all are fighting for, nothing else. Without true democracy and without accountability the oil and gas will be plundered for sure and no Lebanese citizen "sheep" will utter a word of disapproval.
09 October 2013, 15:47
38
lol eh, now they love the constitution, but when it didn't suit them they spat all over it.
the creation of the stl for instance, violated article 52 of the constitution because it was never ratified by the chamber of deputies. but it didnt matter to them, they were very impatient of surrendering our sovereignty to a foreign political tribunal.
from late 2006 to 2008 sanioura clung on the seat of PM even though the cabinet was unconstitutional, since one of the largest sect in the country was not represented in it. but it didnt matter, consti-what you say?
09 October 2013, 15:47
38
the $11,000,000,000 that vanished as "unaccounted for" expenses under that san.ioura govt, that was not just theft or simple corruption, it also unconstitutional because the budget had not been approved by the assembly.
now they suddenly woke up to the concept of constitution, but they obviously dont understand it. the decisions on oil exploration are not political decisions, they are of utilitarian nature and therefore fall under the duties of caretaker govt. furthermore, it's not up to them to say if it's constitutional or not, it is the constitutional council's prerogative to decide on that.
09 October 2013, 17:28
18
those are facts, with or without your silly comments. i'd invite you to disprove anything i said, but i know intelligent debating is too far below you, wouldnt want you to lower yourself by ever using a logical argument.
09 October 2013, 18:24
28
yes i say it violates the constitution because we cannot surrender our sovereign right to render justice without it being ratified by the parliament. FACT.
as for you saying HA violates the constitution, you need to grow up and give sensible arguments as to what articles are violated and how.
also, i notice you guys are still in the retarded logic of trying to justify a wrong with another wrong.
in a way it's good because it means you're admitting the first wrong, but you're deluding yourself if you think it is "corrected" by an alleged other wrong.
09 October 2013, 18:26
17
oh and about the foul language, i loved it. goes to show you M14ers are za3rans and all you know is za3ran talk.
09 October 2013, 17:56
18
M14 is trying to impose a cabinet with no M8, or an insignificant amount, in it. so you're saying M8 should accept to let M14 take over so they can go back to stealing tens of billions like hariri did? like the 11 billions sanioura made vanish in the recent years?
yea right.
09 October 2013, 18:12
80
a caretaker gvt has NO POWER OF DECISION.... so it cannot tackle ANY issues that are decisive for the country...
M8 as usual want to forget the laws to do as they please...
09 October 2013, 20:01
17
do you realize what you're saying? like the UN would do this for free? like the UN doesn't represent interests of other countries?
what if the US decides Lebanon should not get the money because they're (let's take a completely imaginary scenario here) afraid that we buy weapons to defend ourselves against israel?
they place their veto on us getting our money, and that's it, now go beg them to have it back.
also that would be declaring ourselves a people unable to govern itself, a failed nation under tutelage. are you THAT afraid that some of the oil might go into corruption that you're ready to surrender your sovereignty?
09 October 2013, 20:39
70
"also that would be declaring ourselves a people unable to govern itself"
it is already the case! LLOL
as for the oil revenues wait and see mowaten.... it will bring nothing to the people but rather increase your dear leaders pocket money!
10 October 2013, 14:28
00
this cabinet isn't march 8 bani, it has been paralyzed by miqati and m14 interferences since inception.
