2023-06-19 16:57:55
Lebanon’s parliament approves salary increases, despite constitutional objections
Today, the Lebanese parliament approved increases in the salaries of public sector employees and retirees, amid Christian objections to the parliament’s legislation in light of the presidential vacuum.
The Council approved two laws; The first aims to open appropriations in the 2023 budget to be allocated to give temporary compensation to all workers in the public sector and retirees who benefit from a retirement pension, in addition to increasing compensation for insured transportation for all employees in the public sector. The second proposal relates to opening a credit of 265 billion pounds to cover the expenses of giving financial incentives as a transportation allowance to Lebanese University professors to enable them to complete the current academic year.
Part of depositors’ protests in front of banks in Beirut last Thursday (AP)
The approval of the appropriations, which will extend to about 400,000 families, comes after he had warned the caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, of the inability to pay public sector salaries at the end of this month, despite the availability of liquidity in the treasury, if the House of Representatives did not approve the additional appropriations for wages, stressing That there is a good collection of state revenues.
Last April, the government approved an increase in public sector salaries fourfold, in addition to two additional salaries and an increase in transportation that had been approved earlier, after the collapse of the value of the local currency (the lira) to an unprecedented level and the arrival of the dollar exchange rate. Today, it is about 93,000 pounds, after it was stable for many years at the limits of 1,500 pounds.
The headquarters of the Lebanese Parliament in Beirut (EPA)
Today, the second legislative session was held during the presidential vacuum that has been going on since last November, despite objections to it from some parties who believe that parliamentary legislation in light of the presidential vacuum is unconstitutional, in addition to their refusal to approve additional appropriations in the absence of the 2023 budget. These objections, participation in the parliament session was mainly limited to each of the “Shiite duo” (Hezbollah and the Amal movement), the “Progressive Socialist” party, the “Free Patriotic Movement” and the “Independent Consultative Meeting”, which also includes the “National Moderation” bloc.
While the “Lebanese Forces” party and the opposition blocs attacked the parliament session, renewing their position in terms of considering it unconstitutional, the “National Movement” (which was opposing the legislative sessions) participated on the condition that its agenda be limited to the item of salaries for the public sector only without adding any other items, declaring That there will be no participation in any future legislation to which the status of “emergency and necessity” does not apply, in addition to the inability to find a solution to it except through legislation from the Parliament, as was the case with regard to municipalities, mayors, and the “public procurement law.”
A session of the Lebanese Council of Ministers on June 13 (Dalati and Nohra – dpa)
During the session, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri responded to the opponents, indicating that “there are those who see in the constitution that the government and the parliament should not meet, and that the parliament should not work or legislate. Accordingly, if we want to respond to these (i.e. listen to them), we will not act.
For his part, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed that the “credits” for the two proposals that were approved were “secured,” stressing that “the cabinet plays its role to facilitate the work of the state and does not pass anything unnecessary.”
In response to his critics for not preparing the 2023 budget, the caretaker prime minister said: “I will invite the cabinet to discuss it in successive sessions, and we will send it to Parliament to discuss it. There are imports that will cover the increases and appropriations in the two bill proposals. And I confirm that we are doing our part to run the state’s affairs.” He responded to his critics by saying: “Yes, the agenda of the Council of Ministers is complete in order to conduct the work of the state.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati (Dalati and Nohra – dpa)
For his part, Representative Osama Saad stopped at the repercussions that would result from these increases in light of the current financial and economic situation. “We ask where the funds will come from,” he said. We, as deputies, do not know the repercussions that will result from the increases, and it is a right for employees in the public sector and in all fields,” he asked, “How will the government deal with these repercussions?”
After the session, Qasem Hashem, a representative in the Berri bloc, also responded to those who rejected the legislation, reminding them of the decision of the Constitutional Council that rejected the appeal submitted in the law extending municipal and elective councils, which means that it granted the right to legislate to Parliament. Hashem said, in a statement from parliament, that “the session is constitutional by all standards, and we refer those with an opinion on the interpretation of the constitution to the Constitutional Council in its recent decision to reject the appeal of the municipal elections, as it affirmed in two paragraphs giving the parliament the right to legislate in light of the presidential vacuum.” He added that Article 75 of the constitution, which specifies the prohibition of the parliament from legislating during the election sessions (for the president of the republic), is confined to those sessions, but since the election sessions end with the closing of its minutes, “this means that the parliament has the right to legislate after that.”
Hashem added, “What we are about today is the adoption of laws related to the rights of employees in the public sector, retirees, and military personnel, and this is our duty as a council to secure people’s rights and salaries, because the constitution is built on a basic rule (that is) that the people are the source of powers, and when we are facing an issue related to people, it is the duty.” Some details need to be bypassed to deliver the rights to their owners. And he continued: «The government submitted draft laws to open the required appropriations (for the laws that were approved in the session), but unfortunately some rejected these projects out of controversy and debate about the authority of the caretaker government to send such projects in such circumstances, knowing that in light of the exceptional circumstances necessities Prohibitions are permitted, so how about if they are rights for people to secure their salaries in light of stressful economic and social conditions?
As for outside the parliament, the blocs opposing the legislation renewed their position rejecting this step, which was expressed by the “Lebanese Forces” party and opposition representatives.
A woman participates in protests in front of Lebanese banks last week (AP)
The head of the “forces”, Samir Geagea, criticized the deputies who participated in the session, especially the “Free Patriotic Movement”, without naming them. He said, “The representatives who claimed that their participation in today’s session is to spare public sector employees a cut in their salaries, are not telling the truth, but are invoking an argument to justify the convening of this session, as the additional appropriations approved by (the parliament session) could have been easily approved by the government, as it has approved many appropriations in the past year. And he added in a statement: “But if someone says that the government cannot spend additional appropriations because the 2023 budget reserve has run out, then the same problem arises … given that the House of Representatives opened an appropriation in a budget that does not exist, which is the 2023 budget, and therefore the Council of Ministers could open These appropriations approved by the Council today and legalized when the conditions for that are available, that is, when this Council sends the 2023 budget to Parliament. In conclusion, Geagea saw that “today’s session is the work of those who are obstructing the election of a new president for the country. As for the actual solution to our problems, it lies in the beginning filling the presidency, not slandering the constitution and laws to pass decisions in an ill-considered manner, which leads to a further aggravation of the situation in Lebanon.
Representatives of the “forces” also signed a statement issued by opposition representatives, including the “Lebanese Phalange” party, announcing their boycott of the session, describing it as “unconstitutional.” The deputies said in a statement to them: “Our position of not attending legislative sessions stems from a principled and constitutional standpoint, as it is today to protect the rights of the Lebanese in general and public sector employees in particular. Legislation in light of the vacancy of the position of the presidency of the republic, according to the constitution, and it is considered an exclusively elective body until the election of the president.
The statement stressed that “the session is unconstitutional because additional appropriations cannot be approved in the absence of the 2023 budget, which was not prepared by the government, which lacks parliamentary and popular confidence, and which did not provide any solutions to all the crises that we suffer from.”
Opposition deputies also pointed out that “what is presented today brings us back to the same logic that began with the approval of the ill-considered series of ranks and salaries that accelerated the collapse, passing through the recent random unfunded increases in public sector salaries and wages that led to inflation, as a result of which the purchasing value of these salaries decreased to less than from the half.”
Opposition deputies believed that “this approach, which lacks seriousness and a comprehensive vision and plan, cannot address the problems, especially in the absence of actual funding sources for these credits. Rather, it will lead to new inflation that reduces the value of the increase.”
Parliament session to elect a president of the republic last week (AP)
On this basis, the deputies renewed their call “to convene immediately under the dome of parliament in an open electoral session with multiple sessions, as stipulated in the constitution, until reaching the election of a reformist president whose decision is free and committed to preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty, who proceeds to reconfigure the authority in order to launch the rescue process and address All the results of the crisis are studied, scientific and available, foremost of which are the salaries of public sector employees.
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