Berri Rejects Sectarian Divisions Inside Parliament, Backs Committee to Settle Controversial Issues

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed regret at the withdrawal of the March 14 opposition MPs from a parliamentary session on Thursday, saying he adjourned the meeting over his keenness on national cohesion.

“I am not satisfied with what happened even if the democratic game allows lawmakers to withdraw from the session,” Berri said in remarks published in Beirut dailies on Friday.

He stressed that he didn’t adjourn the session to March 5 over lack of quorum but because “I was keen on not having a national division” inside the parliament.

The speaker hinted that most of the March 14 lawmakers who stormed out of the legislature were from the Sunni sect, while the parliamentary majority Sunnis remained inside. “I Nabih Berri don’t want to write down this incident and division in my record.”

March 14 MPs withdrew from the session on Thursday to protest attempts by the majority March 8 lawmakers of clinching a vote on a $5.9 billion cabinet spending bill that would legalize the extra-budgetary spending for 2011 given that Lebanon hasn’t had a state budget since 2005.

The opposition MPs have conditioned the approval of the bill to the settlement of the $11 billion spent by the governments of ex-Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between from 2006 to 2009.

Berri also criticized al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Saniora over his speech in parliament and the pressure he exerted on his followers to withdraw from the session.

He stressed that he adjourned the session in an effort to reach a final understanding on the $5.9 billion spending bill and find out how the $11 billion were sent.

Berri reiterated his support for the formation of a parliamentary committee with representatives from both the majority and opposition to carry out a study on the details of the spending between 2006 and 2009, which the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun says was filled with embezzlement.

The speaker told the newspapers that he tasked MP Yassine Jaber to represent his Development and Liberation bloc in the committee.