11 MPs appeal 2025 budget decree decision to Constitutional Council

Eleven MPs filed an appeal Wednesday with the Constitutional Council, challenging the decree that promulgated the 2025 draft budget in early March. The MPs cited "numerous constitutional violations in the procedure and mechanism of its adoption, as well as in its content," according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

The MPs — mostly from protest blocs — include Paula Yacoubian, Melhem Khalaf, Najat Aoun Saliba, Firas Hamdan, Adib Abdel Massih, Bilal Houshaimi, Melhem Tawk, Adnan Traboulsi, Taha Naji, Ibrahim Mneimneh, and Tony Frangieh. They submitted their appeal at the Constitutional Council’s headquarters in Hadath, a suburb of Beirut.

Outside the council’s offices, Yacoubian condemned what she called "a chronic and worsening violation regarding the closing account."

"This time, the government has taken it upon itself to adopt the budget without a closing account, whereas in the past, Parliament was the body that granted such exemptions," she said.

She also criticized the Lebanese government for "granting itself the authority to impose taxes, some with retroactive effect (...), which is a blatant infringement on parliamentary prerogatives." Yacoubian noted that "Article 86 of the Constitution allows the government to adopt the budget by decree, but it has not fulfilled all the necessary conditions, particularly the requirement to summon Parliament for an extraordinary session."

The draft budget, prepared by the previous government of Najib Mikati, was widely criticized upon its release for relying heavily on tax increases to address Lebanon’s ongoing economic and financial crisis, which began in 2019, and for lacking structural reforms.

The current government, led by Nawaf Salam, enacted the decree in early March, citing a lack of time to draft an alternative. However, during a session on March 13, it approved a bill allowing modifications to certain taxes, fees, and other charges in the 2025 budget. The amendments included scrapping taxes on alcoholic beverages, a move sought by the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, which had warned of economic and social repercussions.