Berri schedules House session to revive Constitutional Council
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called Parliament to convene on Tuesday to discuss and ratify the new law on the Constitutional Council and to elect members of parliamentary committees. Parliament is scheduled to first convene at 10:30 a.m. to elect parliamentary committee members before meeting again in the afternoon to amend the Constitutional Council law.
The amendments, which were recently recommended by the legislature”s Administration and Justice Committee, were discussed during a brief meeting on Thursday between Berri and committee head MP Robert Ghanem.
The Taif Accord, which put an end to Lebanon”s 1975-1990 Civil War, called for the establishment of a Constitutional Council to "interpret the Constitution, to observe the constitutionality of the laws, and to settle disputes and contests emanating from presidential and parliamentary elections."
The current council”s term ended in 2005, and since then efforts have failed to form a new one.
In a separate development on Thursday, President Michel Sleiman headed to Quebec, Canada, to take part in the 12th Francophone summit. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh and Minister of State Nassib Lahoud.
The Lebanese delegation will join Culture Minister Tamam Salam, who arrived in Quebec on Wednesday and participated in the summit”s ministerial meeting.
Sleiman will address the summit on Friday and is also expected to hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Canadian officials.
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora received at the Grand Serail Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani, who told reporters after the meeting that the Lebanese premier was always welcome in Iran. He added that discussions are under way to set the stage for Sleiman”s visit to Tehran.
In another development, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt told As-Safir newspaper in remarks published Thursday that he was open to meeting Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Jumblatt, who visited Future Movement leader Saad Hariri at the latter”s Qoreitem residence on Thursday, said such a meeting would be seriously considered after the Hizbullah chief meets Hariri.
But Jumblatt denied press reports about an imminent meeting between him and Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad.
The PSP leader said that he was ready for dialogue with Iran, if such dialogue would be based on a "Lebanese agenda."
"The most important item on such agenda would be implementing the Taif Agreement," he said. Jumblatt added that his criticism of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun”s recent visit to Tehran was driven by "the desire to keep Lebanon away from axis policies."
The PSP leader, however, said that he would never apologize to the Syrian regime.
"I know the Syrian regime very well since the days of former President Hafez Assad … They want me to apologize and this is out of the question."
"I was not mistaken when I called for toppling the Syrian regime, but it seems that the international community prefers to deal with the current dictatorship because it does not want chaos in Syria," Jumblatt said.
"I decided not to interfere in Syria”s internal affairs … Let the Syrian people choose the regime which best suits them," he added.
Asked if the United States had manipulated the March 14 Forces to achieve its own interests, Jumblatt said that the anti-Syrian alliance wanted nothing more than Washington”s help in forming an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Also on Thursday, Jumblatt called on Sleiman to follow up with the Syrian leadership on the issues of border demarcation and the Shebaa Farms.
Demarcating borders between Lebanon and Syria has taken center stage on the March 14 agenda following the official establishment of diplomatic ties between the two neighbors.
The March 14 alliance is also urging Damascus to officially acknowledge Lebanon”s ownership of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms as a necessary step toward pressuring Israel to withdraw from the territory.
Speaking to Future News television, Jumblatt called for security cooperation between Beirut and Damascus with the aim of countering terrorism.
Separately, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea returned to Beirut from Cairo on Thursday following a two-day visit that included meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, and Arab League chief Amr Moussa.