House Speaker Nabih Berri, Aug. 31, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine)
“I am nobody’s man.” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri seems never to miss a chance to assert himself as Parliament’s absolute master. The parliamentary bureau meeting, scheduled for Monday afternoon, will certainly be another one of these times.
The meeting should set the agenda for Thursday’s plenary session to, in principle, extend Army Chief Joseph Aoun’s term of office. Aoun is due to retire on Jan. 10.
Berri will have the final say on the agenda, which includes several points that have been pending for months. Could this snip the parliamentary session from the bud?
Several parties correlate their participation in the session (which the Free Patriotic Movement will boycott) to a single issue: The future of the Lebanese Army.
“Mr. Berri does not have interest in jeopardizing the meeting. Because this would go against his will to prove that the parliament can enact laws amid a presidential vacancy,” said MP Marwan Hamadeh (Chouf/Progressive Socialist Party).
“Some rules, including the one that gives priority to the drafts that the parliamentary committees already passed, need to be respected,” a close associate to Berri told L’Orient-Le Jour.
“Texts of dual urgency [such as the drafts related to the military issue] will be brought together in a separate agenda,” the associate said.
He noted that some draft laws and reform proposals, like those requested by the International Monetary Fund, could be added to the agenda. This includes those related to capital control and the independence of the judiciary. Such proposals have not received unanimous support in political circles.
“They will not pass,” estimated Hamadeh.
The opposition waits
While waiting for the agenda to become clearer, the main opposition actors have yet to decide whether they will attend the meeting. “The issue of the fate of the army is a priority. But we will decide in the light of the parliament bureau meeting,” said Lebanese Forces (LF) spokesperson Charles Jabbour. Like other parties, the LF submitted draft laws to delay the retirement of the army and other security chiefs.
The Kataeb are cautious. “We insist on our principled stance that parliament cannot enact laws amid a vacuum in the country’s presidency. But we will examine the issue at the political bureau meeting on Monday, because preserving the troops is a priority,” said MP Elias Hankash (Metn\Kataeb).
MP Michel Moawad, head of the Renewal bloc, concurs. “Priority is certainly the presidential election. But it is important to preserve the army,” he said, stressing that the final decision will be taken in coordination with the other opposition components.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Joelle El Khoury.