President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam during a meeting at the Baabda Palace before a cabinet meeting, on Nov. 20, 2025. (Credit: Photo posted on the X account of the presidency / @LBPresidency)
BEIRUT — Cabinet began a meeting at 3 p.m. at the Baabda Presidential Palace to review several items on the agenda, not including any points related to the arms monopoly, diaspora vote, or financial reforms the country is expected to launch.
Before the meeting, President Joseph Aoun met with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
One of the main topics concerns a bill to abolish the death penalty, whose authors have requested the government's advisory opinion, an option provided by the Parliament's rules of procedure.
The proposal, signed by seven MPs, was submitted to the chamber on Oct. 7. The government may issue a technical, legal, or political opinion on the matter, which Parliament is not obligated to follow.
According to a source at the Justice Ministry contacted by L’Orient-Le Jour on Wednesday, the timing of this request is not related to a possible extradition from Bulgaria of one of the suspects in the Beirut port blast case of 2020.
Nearly 10 bills have been submitted to Cabinet for review, including two concerning subjecting the Lebanese University and its institutes to income tax, as well as another aiming to provide “sustainable revenue” to the National Road Safety Council.
Another issue that could arouse controversy: the Environment Ministry has submitted a request from the National Cement Company to obtain a permit for the exploitation and rehabilitation of its quarries for cement production in the Kfar Hazir and Bedbahon areas (Koura district, North Lebanon).
The cement company quarries in Koura have long been at the center of conflict with local residents, who complain about the defacement of the landscape, environmental degradation, and health consequences from this pollution.
Other issues that may be decided include:
The Telecommunications Ministry will present a proposal from Eutelsat, which specializes in satellite communications — Internet, mobile and fixed telephony, data transfer, or television broadcasting.
The French group approached Lebanese authorities over the summer, at the same time as Starlink, which the government granted a two-year license in October to provide Internet distribution services via satellites operated by SpaceX, Elon Musk's company.
The Energy and Water Ministry would like approval for a draft decree to organize the water register and irrigation registers, mechanisms that were supposed to be reviewed at the previous session on Nov. 13, while the country has experienced a particularly dry year.
The ministry has also submitted a request to grant seniority compensation to Lebanese electricity company contract workers and civil servants, and another aiming to modify the calculation of end-of-service compensation for employees of the public institution.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry wants to approve ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines (APMBC or Ottawa Treaty). The Finance Ministry finally seeks the approval of two decrees amending VAT application procedures, without further detail.
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