Saniora Rejects ‘Logic of Vengeance’ in State Spending as Eyes Turn to Parliamentary Meeting
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader Fouad Saniora reiterated his demand for parliament’s legitimization of extra-budgetary spending away from the “logic of vengeance” as a meeting scheduled to be held on Monday by the parliament bureau and the heads and secretaries of committees will seek to settle the issue.
Saniora held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Saturday. His sources told An Nahar daily on Sunday that the two officials discussed extra-budgetary spending and Speaker Nabih Berri’s pledge to resolve the issue before a legislative session on March 5.
A parliamentary session held on Thursday was adjourned to March 5 after the opposition, including al-Mustaqbal, lawmakers stormed out of the legislature to protest a bill that would legitimize the $5.9 billion spent by Premier Najib Miqati’s government in 2011.
Lebanon has been without a state budget since 2005. The governments of ex-PMs Saniora and Saad Hariri have also made an $11 billion spending which the March 8 parliamentary majority and mainly MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc claims was not documented and was filled with corruption.
The March 14 opposition lawmakers conditioned their approval of the $5.9 billion bill to the legitimization of the $11 billion spending.
The sources reiterated to An Nahar that the amount spent by the governments of Saniora and Hariri went to resolve the electricity crisis, the rebuilding process after the devastation caused by the Israeli aggression on Lebanon in 2006, the fund of the displaced and to cover the interests of the public debt.
“For the same reasons, $6 billion were spent by the cabinet of PM Miqati in a single year,” Saniora’s sources said, adding that financial issues should be kept away from the “logic of vengeance” to preserve the country’s “financial reputation.”
They said the March 14 coalition was awaiting the results of the meeting that will be held in parliament on Monday.
March 14 parliamentary sources expected the meeting to find a “comprehensive settlement” to the spending.
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