The president of the parliamentary Finance Commission, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, at the Parliament. Credit: ANI.
In a letter sent this Wednesday, March 14, to the Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, MPs Halime Kaakour, Najate Aoun Saliba, Paula Yacoubian and Yassine Yassine condemned a secret meeting held by the subcommittee of the Finance and Budget Commission yesterday, saying it was held without being announced and was restricted to a small number of deputies.
“The subcommittee conducted its work in violation of the principles of transparency and inclusivity, notably by prohibiting non-member deputies from attending, even though it should be open to all deputies,” the statement read.
During the second session dedicated to the draft law on banking resolution held on May 8, the president of the commission, Ibrahim Kanaan (formerly of the Free Patriotic Movement), announced the creation of a subcommittee tasked with reconciling divergent views between the Banque du Liban (BDL) and the Ministry of Finance on this issue. This comes after the BDL governor, Karim Souhaid, strongly criticized the text in the Comission. According to Kanaan, this body must meet several times a week to develop a “harmonized draft law.”
“As is customary in Parliament, a subcommittee is not allowed to hold closed and selective meetings, nor to block the legislative process, especially on draft laws of such importance,” the four lawmakers added in their statement. They also referenced article 33 of the internal regulations of Parliament, which “gives every deputy the right to attend committee sessions, even if they are not a member.”
“The meeting was held on Tuesday in Mr. Kanaan's office, without informing anyone except ten members of the Finance and Budget Commission [including Salim Aoun, Fouad Makhzoumi, and Amine Cherri among others] and three additional non-member MPs, namely Jamil Sayed, Melhem Khalaf and Farid Boustany,” stated MP Yassine, contacted by L'Orient Today.
“We cannot reduce the number of participants to a handful of people on the pretext of advancing quickly, especially since the economic and financial collapse occurred during the mandate of some of these MPs” he continued.
