Member of Parliament Georges Adwan. (Credit: National News Agency)
Georges Adwan, MP and president of the administration and justice committee, held a press conference Wednesday at Parliament, during which he threatened to withdraw his confidence and that of the Lebanese Forces MPs in the government if measures were not taken against Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh, whose remarks on the disarmament of Hezbollah have angered “sovereigntist” circles.
In a television interview last Sunday, Salameh stated that the term “disarmament” of Hezbollah is “too strong and must be reconsidered.”
“To consider that reform is possible without imposing the sovereignty of the state over its entire territory, by confining weapons to the state and reserving the decision of war and peace for it, is to waste time,” Adwan said from Parliament. He criticized Salameh for linking disarmament to reconstruction, threatening the withdrawal of confidence from the government by his “Strong Republic” bloc if Prime Minister Nawaf Salam did not take “quick measures against said minister.”
Adwan also insisted on priority reforms such as financial balance, the return of bank deposits, and the collection of weapons, which are commitments of the ministerial program. The deputy warned that any appointment, especially to the financial prosecutor’s office, that does not respect competence, integrity and independence, would be firmly contested by his bloc and cautioned against transferring prerogatives usually assigned to the governor of the Banque du Liban to other entities, which “could ruin the monetary and financial system.”
