Cabinet faces parliament: day two
On the second day of parliamentary talks on the ministerial statement before the Lebanese House of Parliament is to grant the vote of confidence that would officially install the national unity government, negotiations remained hampered by mutual accusations between the pro-government and opposition forces, primarily on the basis of disagreement over the role of Hezbollah and its arms.
Before adjourning the parliamentary session, which will resume on Sunday at 6:00 PM, Speaker Nabih Berri requested the Free Patriotic Movement and Future Movement cut down on the number of MPs registered to speak in the next two days of talks. He also said he was willing to extend the session until all deputies had said what they had to say.
The session was far from purged of name-calling and outright slander at times, with Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar slamming his pro-government counterpart, Elias Atallah, for mentioning the party without “purifying his mouth.”
In fact, Berri was forced to intervene several times throughout the course of the day when camera angles swerved as heated debates erupted between feuding deputies.
“It is in the interest of Lebanon, Syria and all Arabs to overcome disputes between March 8 and March 14 forces. We are trying to calm things down and we don’t want to return to the past,” Berri said.
Replying to an MP describing the opposition’s sit-in in Beirut as an “occupation,” Berri said it was a democratic means.
Berri also noted that some foreign ambassadors in Lebanon are interfering in internal matters, “as if they were in their respective countries, and this is not acceptable.”
One of the most notable addresses was that of MP Solange Gemayel, wife of assassinated Lebanese Forces leader Bachir Gemayel. The MP said she would not cast her vote in favor of legitimating the cabinet as the “lack of clarity over solutions to armed factions has impeded any means to establishing productive national unity.” Gemayel said “illegitimate weapons” constituted a threat to the state, adding that the ministerial statement did not guarantee the Lebanese people that weapons would not be turned against them again.
MP Ibrahim Kanaan of the opposition-aligned Free Patriotic Movement said he was satisfied with the “acceptable” ministerial statement draft, noting that what really mattered was the implementation of the text. He also underlined the need to establish “amicable relations” with Syria based on mutual respect after the detainee dossier was resolved.
MP Elias Atallah expressed fears that the opposition was “seeking to legalize weapons rather than place them under the control of the Lebanese state.”
“We express our reservation over the partnership between the Lebanese people, the army and the Resistance as mentioned in the ministerial statement,” he noted. “The success of the visit of President Sleiman to Syria is conditioned to finding a solution to the dossier of the Lebanese detainees in Syria, consolidating diplomatic relations and drawing of the border between the two countries.”
MP Mustafa Hussein slammed the government for disregarding the lack representation of the Alawite sect, to which he belongs, on the ministerial level.
MP Nabil de Freij of the Future bloc called on all parties to stop exploiting the issue of parliamentary seats of minorities. “How could minorities be represented in a government including twenty-four ministers and not be represented in a thirty-minister government.”
MP Ismail Succariyeh of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc said that the call for establishing relations with Syria on the basis of mutual respect and without hegemony is an rightful one. However, Succarieyh rejected “racist provocations” against Syria.
MP Youssef Khalil of the Change and Reform bloc said he feared that the cost of energy would increase and affect big and small investors alike. He also called on the government to increase wages and salaries in the public sector.
MP Mustafa Allouch of the Future bloc noted that that incidents in the past three years aimed at obstructing the government in Lebanon and portraying the country as unable to govern itself.
“With all due respect to President Michel Sleiman and the content of his inaugural speech, the ongoing recourse to … the military institution reflects the failure of our practice of democracy and an ongoing violation of the constitution,” he said.
Allouch also highlighted the need to grant Lebanese citizenship to “those who deserve it” and withdraw it from “those who do not.”
“I also urge the consideration of Lebanese emigrants’ right to participate in the legislative elections,” he noted.
MP Ammar Houry, also of the Future bloc, said it was unacceptable that weapons be turned against people whose points of view differed from those of an armed party.
“I fear that the use of weapons will led to the use of the weapon of other militias,” Houri said, stressing that “the truth will be revealed and justice served through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”
MP Mustafa Hashem said that some Lebanese have resorted to self-security after “they were deceived by the performance of the security forces which failed in protecting them.”
On the issue of Hezbollah and its weapons, Hashem differentiated recognizing the Resistance from the right of any faction to start a war. He also called on the Lebanese state to impose its control over all Lebanese territories.
“Solutions must be sought through dialogue,” Hashem said.
MPs Nader Succar, Bader Wannous, Marwan Fares, Camille Maalouf, Assem Aaraji, Elie Aoun, Atef Majdalni, Qassem Abdul Aziz and Oussama Saad were among those who also addressed the House.