State budget discussion resumes for 2nd day in parliament

Parliament resumed Thursday a session on the 2024 state budget after a heated session Wednesday ended with fights and bickering.

Change MP Melhem Khalaf had left the session Wednesday after an argument with Speaker Nabih Berri, Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil described the Change MPs as Mafias, Change MP Paula Yacoubian reminded Khalil that he was charged in connection with the 2020 Beirut port blast, Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said the government is "dishonourable" and Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said that “there is no benefit from any state budgets” if “the war and peace decisions” are not “in the state’s hands.”

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab also lashed out at Mikati, accusing him of “pouring oil on fire in the dispute between the defense minister and the army commander.”

When Wednesday's session resumed in the evening, Berri argued with FPM chief Jebran Bassil over the FPM's MPs boycott of the parliament sessions.

Bassil said the caretaker government has no right to convene in the first place but has convened and passed a "catastrophic" state budget.