Cabinet Resumes Functions after 17-Day Break

The government of Premier Najib Miqati resumes its meetings on Friday after a 17-day break to discuss a series of administrative and financial issues that are not controversial.

Friday’s session at the Grand Serail includes 50 items on its agenda. But the cabinet will most likely not be able to deal with them in one day which prompted Miqati to ask the general-secretariat to set a date for another session next Wednesday.

One of the reasons that led to a packed agenda was Miqati’s deal with the public transport unions to suspend their strike.

The unions have received promises by Miqati and the finance, interior and economy ministers to resolve the skyrocketing prices of fuel which promoted them to postpone their strike to next Thursday.

The cabinet is also scheduled to discuss on Friday a deal struck between Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas and the Bakeries Union to end their planned open-ended strike.

Nahhas is expected to make several suggestions to the government to resolve the crisis. They include giving LL70,000 subsidies per ton on wheat flour and liberalizing the prices despite their socio-economic dangers.

As for a decision to lease power-generating vessels from a Turkish firm, a ministerial committee is still studying some parts of the deal and introducing amendments to it, ministerial sources said.

The issue could be discussed by the cabinet during its next session, they told al-Joumhouria daily.

Another vital issue – the formation of an oil authority tasked with overseeing the petroleum sector for the purpose of exploring the potential of offshore gas and oil reserves – is absent from the cabinet’s agenda.