Mikati 'might quit', Berri 'surprised' after cancelled legislative session

Caretaker Prime Minister may take a break from his duties "if some parties continue to obstruct the government's work," al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday.

The daily added that Mikati has informed Berri and other officials that he has run out of patience.

A legislative parliamentary session was called off Thursday due to a lack of quorum as opposition and Free Patriotic Movement MPs boycotted it.

FPM ministers are also boycotting all cabinet sessions that they consider unconstitutional amid a presidential vacuum.

Al-Joumhouria said it has learned from circles close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that the latter was surprised that the FPM MPs boycotted Thursday's session.

The session was supposed to discuss several laws including the capital control law and the oil and gas sovereign fund draft law that the FPM is calling for.

Cabinet and parliament can only convene to discuss urgent matters as Lebanon remains without a president.

"What is more urgent than this session's articles," asked Mikati, after the cancelled session.

"We have reached a very difficult stage," he said, stressing that if the bank restructuring law and other financial reform laws are not approved, the crisis would deepen in Lebanon.

Restructuring the banking sector is a key demand of the International Monetary Fund to start getting Lebanon out of its paralyzing financial crisis. The proposed IMF reforms will likely force most of the country’s 46 banks — a huge number for a nation of 5 million people — to close down or merge.