Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the cabinet meeting on March 19, 2024. (Photo Prime Minister's Press Office)
The government of Najib Mikati has been meeting since 10 a.m. this morning at the Grand Serail to consider at least 27 items on the agenda, including the thorny issue of appointing new customs inspectors, which has been postponed.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), relaying the words of caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari, the caretaker prime minister asked for the subject to be "studied in greater depth, while confirming the cabinet's previous decision," referring to the one taken on July 14, 2020. At that time, the government had opted for an even split between Muslim and Christian candidates. The problem is that the Ministry of Finance's decision, which includes the list of almost 250 inspectors, only includes Sunni and Shiite candidates, leading to the political tug-of-war over the imbalance of confessional representation in favor of Muslim candidates.
Mikati called on "everyone to approach the question objectively" and not to exploit the issue for "sectarian ends."
According to a government source wishing to remain anonymous, the government also approved the transfer of around $6 million requested by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport from its own road maintenance budget to finance rehabilitation work on the Chekka freeway section, partly closed after a landslide six years ago. The work is to be carried out by the High Rescue Committee.
The bill reintroducing a measure removed from the 2024 budget and the appointment of lawyers to defend the interests of the Lebanese state in the legal proceedings launched in France and Germany against former Central Bank head Riad Salameh was also approved, according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent.
Mikati's speech
In his speech at the opening of the meeting, the prime minister declared that the truce being negotiated in Gaza "will include the countries of the region and will lead to long-term stability," "despite the far-reaching threats" posed by the current regional context marked by the war in the Palestinian enclave and its spillover into southern Lebanon and the Red Sea.
Mikati added that his government "will continue to work for a truce that would put an end to the destructive war and genocide, and allow the inhabitants of South Lebanon to return to their villages." He also said he was confident that "the truce being worked on in Gaza, despite Israel's threats, would include the countries of the region and lead to long-term stability."
Confirmed decisions
According to the previously mentioned government source, the government approved amendments to two paragraphs (3 and 4) of article 6 of decree No. 13.202 of Feb. 28, 2024, modifying civil service salaries. These amendments add the words "for a minimum of LL 8 million," omitted in these two provisions, which add the equivalent of three salaries calculated at the time when the exchange rate was fixed at LL 1,507.5 to the dollar, to the remuneration of active and retired army personnel.
According to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent, the government also approved a bill that reintroduces a mechanism enabling taxpayers, and more specifically companies, to revalue assets and fixed assets without the capital gain mechanically realized as a result of the exchange rate difference being taxed under income tax. This provision, requested by representatives of the private sector, had been deleted from the final version of the state budget for 2024 when it was adopted by Parliament at the end of January. The new bill should now be sent to Parliament for a vote.
The government has also addressed the several-hour outage that occurred on Dec. 28, 2023, on the Jounieh cable car, resulting in its closure. The cabinet has requested the Ministry of Energy and Water to submit a technical report within two weeks regarding the measures to be taken to reopen the cable car to the public.
Also according to L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent, the government approved the two requests made by the caretaker minister of justice, Henri Khoury:
- That of "appointing a French lawyer to represent the Lebanese state in France," which had been postponed several times in recent months. This lawyer will be tasked with defending the State following the cassation appeal lodged by former Central Bank boss Riad Salameh against the Paris investigating judge's decision to seize his movable and immovable property in France.
Two lawyers, Emmanuel Daoud and Pascal Beauvais, were appointed in June 2023 in this case, but they are not authorized to defend the state before the Court of Cassation. Another lawyer, Catherine Bauer-Violas, recommended by Beauvais, had agreed to represent Lebanon pro-bono, but withdrew. Clemence Hourdeau was finally chosen.
- The caretaker justice minister's second request was to appoint two German lawyers to represent the Lebanese state before the German courts. These were Kilian Wegner and Mohammad al-Ghazi.
Other business
The agenda included other issues, some of which had been postponed several times at previous meetings. Whether they were all approved at Tuesday morning's meeting, and the details of these decisions, is not yet known.
- In addition to the thorny issue of the appointments of the customs inspectors who won the latest competition organized for this purpose, the agenda also included consideration of a decision to promote certain customs inspectors registered as category 4 civil servants to category 3.
- A proposal by caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil to resolve the shortage of tax stamps.
- A proposal by caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim to request payment of contributions due to hospitals and medical centers.
- Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar presented the findings of the investigation into the several-hour breakdown of the Jounieh cable car on Dec. 28, 2023 to decide on the path forward.
- Examination of the one-year extension of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). This agreement was signed in April 2022 by Mikati, when the government was still fully empowered.
- A response to the Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities, which is calling for the release of LL 500 billion from the 2024 budget reserves to finance the issue of one million biometric passports. The ministry is also asking for the possibility of recruiting 500 "trainees" for General Security.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.