March 8 Ministers, Berri in Last-Ditch Bid to Untangle Knots of Budget Crisis
March 8 Cabinet ministers held an overnight meeting at Speaker Nabih Berri”s mansion in Ein el-Tineh in a last-ditch bid to untangle knots of the Council for the South budget crisis.
Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil as well as Ministers Mario Aoun and Talal Arslan did not attend the meeting for travel purposes.
News reports said the meeting would be resumed on Wednesday.
They said outcome of the session will be conveyed to President Michel Suleiman.
LBC TV said in its evening newscast on Tuesday that Suleiman is likely to settle the Council for the South budget crisis at Thursday”s Cabinet meeting by granting Berri LL 60 billion conditional he does not spend it before July, a month following parliamentary elections.
Suleiman on Tuesday was also reportedly determined to settle the 2009 state budget crisis at the Cabinet meeting.
Suleiman was said to have made a last-minute attempt to try to work out an agreement on the budget between the rival political camps – March 8 and March 14 forces.
The daily An Nahar had said Suleiman threatened to adopt a budget based on monthly allocations if the two sides failed to agree on a compromise.