Mikati asks for time to study public sector salaries

Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Saturday, at the start of an exceptional cabinet meeting supposed to discuss public sector salaries (particularly those of retired military personnel), that he "asked for time to study the dossier."

"Yesterday [on Friday], I held a series of financial meetings, which effectively showed that there is a difference between the remuneration of civil servants in the public sector and that of the military. That's why I asked for a delay before pursuing the study of this dossier, to examine all the figures," he continued.

Mikati announced that several meetings would be held next week with representatives of the army command and the forces of law and order, as well as with pensioners and ministers "who so wish." He also stated that Banque du Liban (BDL) asked for more time to study the case.

On Thursday, on the bangs of the cabinet, retired military personnel led a demonstration, during which they attempted to block the ministers' access to the Grand Serail. Scuffles broke out between them and the security forces, and tear gas was used. Armed forces veterans are demanding an increase in their retirement pensions, which have been virtually wiped out by the depreciation of the Lebanese lira, against the backdrop of the country's socio-economic collapse. It was in response to their sit-in and demands that Mikati announced a new cabinet meeting on Saturday, entirely dedicated to this issue.

Response to Maronite patriarch

In his homily on the occasion of Saint Maron's Day on Friday, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai denounced the "dubious, unacceptable and condemnable ulterior motives" behind the obstruction of the presidential election, seeing it as an attempt to exclude the Maronites from power. Mikati is sometimes accused of arrogating to himself the prerogatives of the President of the Republic, traditionally from the Maronite community, whereas the Prime Minister is Sunni.

Mikati responded to the Maronite patriarch, without naming him. In his speech, the outgoing Prime Minister denied that he was exercising prerogatives that were not his own. "When there is a vacancy, you have to blame the person responsible, not the person trying to manage the country in such a way as to prevent the negative repercussions of that vacancy," he said.

He added, "if anyone detects an abuse in the management of the country, he can discuss it in the cabinet, far from this prejudicial sectarian spirit, because we must find together the appropriate solutions for all Lebanese, to whatever community they belong."

This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour.