The caretaker prime minister in Lebanon, Najib Mikati, retracted, on Monday, his previous decision regarding daylight savings time, which caused confusion in the country.
Mikati’s most prominent statements
- Najib Mikati said in statements following the cabinet session, reported by the National News Agency, that daylight saving time will start from midnight on Wednesday next Thursday, because we had to take a 48-hour period to address some technical issues.
- Continuing to work in winter time until the end of the month of Ramadan, regarding which I consulted with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, preceded by intensive meetings over a period of months, with the participation of ministers and stakeholders.
- This decision was intended to relieve those fasting during the month of Ramadan for an hour, without causing any harm to any other Lebanese component.
- This decision has been taken many times in the past. Suddenly, outside the purely natural and administrative context, some considered the decision a challenge to him and gave him a dimension that I had never imagined.
- Let us be clear. The problem is not a winter or summer watch whose work has been extended for less than a month. Rather, the problem is the vacancy in the first site in the republic.
Miqati had announced earlier that he had decided to postpone summer time work to next April 20, instead of starting daylight saving time on the last weekend of March, as is the custom in Lebanon.
At first, he did not mention the reason for the decision, but some considered it an attempt to curry favor with Muslims by giving those fasting in Ramadan the opportunity to break their fast early, according to winter time at around six o’clock in the evening, instead of seven if summer time work is applied at its usual time.
But the influential Maronite Church, Lebanon’s largest, announced Saturday that it would oppose the decision, which it described as “surprising”.
She said that no consultations had taken place with other stakeholders and international standards had not been taken into account.
