Berri Slams al-Mustaqbal, Rejects to Budge an Inch on Parliamentary Dispute
Speaker Nabih Berri rejected on Wednesday to budge an inch on his call for a two-day parliamentary session, holding on to the agenda of the session and rejecting any pressure exerted on him to modify it.
“I presume that the legal quorum will be provided during Wednesday’s session after the Free Patriotic Movement's positive stance,” Berri said in an Interview with As Safir newspaper.
He pointed out that he is keen to ensure that all the Lebanese parties are present at any legislative session.
FPM leader MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc agreed after its weekly meeting in Rabieh to reactivate the work of the parliament “as there are social priorities that need to be addressed.”
Aoun's bloc has boycotted previous calls by Berri to attend legislative sessions over the speaker's failure to include his bloc's items on the session's agenda.
Berri slammed in his comments to As Safir the statement issued by al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday, stressing that “al-Mustaqbal and its allies insistence to boycott the parliament and paralyze the legislative work is harming people's interest.”
“This team has no problem in interpreting the constitution according to its needs,” the speaker said.
“The fate of the country depends on the formation of the cabinet,” he added.
The controversial two-day legislative session that Berri called for is set to discuss 45 items on its agenda, the same session that has been boycotted for five times since July over differences on whether the parliament can convene amid a resigned government or not.
The previous sessions were boycotted by the March 14 coalition, caretaker PM Najib Miqati and Aoun's bloc.
Miqati and the March 14 alliance argue that the parliament can only discuss urgent items amid a resigned cabinet.
Head of al-Mustaqbal Parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora told reporters after talks with Berri, on the sidelines of a session set to elect the parliament's bureau committee members and the parliamentary committees members, that Wednesday's session is “unconstitutional.”
Berri described the boycott as a “disguised dictatorship.”
“I've informed them (Miqati and Saniora) that the resignation of the premier should not block the work of the government and the parliament,” he noted.
Berri said that he proposed to Saniora to hold the session according to the announced agenda but “as a speaker I would postpone the voting on the draft-laws that al-Mustaqbal bloc rejects.”
“But the response was negative,” he told As Safir.
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