Berri Satisfied with Cabinet Performance, Eager to Call on Parliament to Convene

Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed satisfaction with the government's performance and vowed to call for several parliamentary sessions to approve draft-laws, among them the controversial wage scale for the public sector.

Local dailies on Friday quoted Berri as saying that the cabinet's appointment of the members of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL) encourages the government to be more productive.

The five members of BCCL were appointed during a session on Thursday.

The speaker also stressed that he would call for parliamentary sessions under the slogan of “necessary legislation,” a move that will likely stir controversy.

Parliament's first ordinary session starts mid-march until the end of May and the second from the middle of October through the end of December.

But the absence of a president has compelled Christian parties to claim that the parliament should only convene to elect a new head of state.

On Wednesday, Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra rejected outright Berri's stance. Lawmakers should head to parliament to find a successor to President Michel Suleiman before approving any draft-law, he said.

Suleiman's term ended in May last year.

Despite the dispute that could erupt over the legislative sessions, Berri said parliament staff were reviewing all necessary draft-laws that require approval ahead of a meeting for the parliament's bureau.

The speaker said he hasn't yet invited the bureau for a meeting because he is hoping that the joint parliamentary committees would approve the wage scale and refer it to the legislature for approval.

Berri has tasked head of the Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan with chairing Tuesday's meeting.

Ahead of the session, the lawmaker will hold talks with the Syndicate Coordination Committee to address its demands.

Berri had held talks on Wednesday with Education Minister Elias Bou Saab and the SCC on the wage hike.

The SCC is a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees that has in recent years spearheaded protests aimed at approving the wage hike.

After postponing several sessions on the controversial issue, the parliament in October returned the draft-law on the salary raise to the joint committees for further discussions.

G.K.

H.K.