Cabinet Session Postponed over Unclear Reasons

A cabinet session that was scheduled to be held at Baabda Palace on Thursday was postponed despite Deputy Prime Minister Samir Moqbel’s pledges to hold the meeting to settle controversial issues.

“It is necessary to hold it to settle several important issues,” Moqbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) ahead of the postponement announcement.

Minister Marwan Khaireddine said on his twitter feed that the session was postponed and instead a meeting between the involved ministers will be held at the Grand Serail under Premier Najib Miqati to find a legal way out to the controversial extra-budgetary spending.

Their remarks came after As Safir daily reported that the session under President Michel Suleiman won’t be held over Miqati’s scheduled meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and the signing of agreements with Iranian Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi.

But a ministerial source told the newspaper that the reason behind the postponement lies in the lack of political consensus on two major issues – the parliamentary electoral law and the extra-budgetary spending.

The agenda of Thursday’s session included a draft-law amended by Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi to legalize the $5.9 billion spending of the government in 2011.

An Nahar quoted sources as saying that Safadi has included in the bill an article on the 2012 spending.