Parliament in session at Unesco Palace

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Parliament opened a plenary session on Monday at 11 a.m. at the Unesco Palace, with a 22-item agenda before it that includes a proposed law on the independence of the judiciary designed to prevent political interference in the judicial system.

Here's what we know:

    • Other items relating to the banking, security and education sectors are also expected to be considered by the legislature.

    • However, the 2022 draft budget, adopted on Feb. 10 by the government, is not on the agenda, but could be discussed as part of a proposal for the competition law. A parliamentary source contacted by L'Orient Today said, however, that the text will not be studied by the Parliament, which will continue its meetings in the afternoon and on Tuesday, since it has not yet been approved by the Finance and Budget Committee.

    • The initial text of the law on the independence of the judiciary was designed by civil actors and later heavily reworked by the Parliament's  Administration and Justice Committee. The drafters of the original text denounced these amendments.

    • In addition, a bill to amend the articles that regulate appeals against judges is likely to also be examined by MPs. It was presented by Lebanese Forces MP Georges Okais two months ago, following the efforts of politicians implicated in the investigation of the 2020 Beirut port explosion to have lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar removed.

    • The MPs will also consider bills to put in place "exceptional and temporary restrictions on bank transfers and withdrawals" in the context of the country's economic collapse, which has been ongoing since 2019.

    • Lastly, elected officials will also consider texts to improve the working conditions of State Security and Internal Security Forces officers, review school fees in the private sector and rearrange the salaries of contract workers in public schools and tenure teachers working full-time at the Lebanese University since 2014.

    • In parallel to the session, parents of students studying abroad held a sit-in in front of Unesco Palace to demand the implementation of Law 193 on the student dollar. This law authorizes the transfer abroad of an annual amount of $10,000, calculated on the basis of the pegged official lira exchange rate of LL1,515 to the greenback, to cover the tuition fees and living expenses of students who left Lebanon to study abroad before 2020.