State Budget, Appointments on Tuesday”s Cabinet Agenda
With parliamentary elections behind the corner, the Lebanese are all eyes for Tuesday”s cabinet session which is expected to tackle both the state budget and the appointments issues.
According to the daily An-Nahar, the figures of private approbations for the Council for the South, already elucidated to the public by Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah, were still standing.
"Government viewpoints are still not settled on the appointments article which could affect cabinet”s decision on endorsing the agenda," An-Nahar added.
However, Al-Balad daily expressed optimism, saying it expected tension to be dispelled on Tuesday at political and administrative levels with the endorsement of the 2009 draft budget.
"The draft budget will be endorsed provided the opposition ministers approved the Constitutional Council”s appointments draft project as discussed formerly," Al-Liwaa daily reported.
Former discussions resulted in agreeing on appointing the following magistrates: Assaad Dib or Rashid Hoteit (Shiite), Suheil Abdel-Samad (Druze), Youssef Soubra (Sunni), Issam Suleiman or Raymond Eid (Maronite),and Joseph Maamari or Salah Moukhaiber (Orthodox).
Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri announced from Baalbek that the budget would indeed be debated during Tuesday”s session. Berri said he did not know if the issue would be raised as agreed or not.
"If I breach the agreement, the opposition will be disesteeming President Michel Suleiman. However, if the other party breaches the agreement, then I leave it for that party to reconsider its position," he added.
Ministerial sources told An-Nahar they did not properly understand Berri”s statement regarding the budget and whether he was still intent on allotting to the Council for the South approbations without discussing the details.
They also indicated that any possible change will be revealed during Tuesday”s session at Baabda palace.
The agenda consists of 97 articles, including most importantly two articles regarding follow-up on the budget draft-project and budgets annexed to 2009, and the appointment of five members for the Constitutional Council.