Berri Optimistic on Transportation Decree but Stresses Parliament Will not Replace Cabinet

Sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas would sign a controversial transportation allowances decree before a parliamentary session scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

The sources told An Nahar and As Safir dailies on Monday that Nahhas could sign the decree in the next few days, paving way for parliament to approve it and allowing the cabinet to annex it to a recent wage hike.

Nahhas’ rejection to sign the decree was at the center of a cabinet crisis that reached its climax on Feb. 1 when Miqati accused ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun of obstructing the government’s work after they accused him of proposing candidates for appointments in posts reserved for Christians in state institutions without consulting them.

Parliament will on Wednesday discuss two draft laws on the transportation allowance proposed by MPs Nabil de Freij and Ibrahim Kanaan.

But parliamentary sources stressed to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that Speaker Nabih Berri is not seeking to give the parliament an executive role.

They said Berri agreed to put the two draft laws on the legislature’s agenda despite his insistence that Nahhas should sign the decree.

The speaker believes that any other solution would be seen as a “constitutional heresy because it is not acceptable for a minister to elude the decision of the cabinet.”

The sources lamented that a decree - approved by the government of ex-PM Omar Karami during the mandate of late President Elias Hrawi to force a minister to approve a decree despite his rejection to it - wasn’t made into law.

Berri has warned that the labor minister’s rejection to abide by the decisions of the government would lead to an open-ended crisis and prevent the cabinet from functioning, al-Hayat said.

The daily quoted ministerial sources as saying that the speaker’s stance is in harmony with President Michel Suleiman and Miqati. “Those betting that the speaker would interfere so that parliament replaces the cabinet are mistaken,” they said.