Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s caretaking government has decided at a cabinet session Wednesday to devote a special meeting to discuss the issue of restructuring the banking sector on December 3.
The session, presided over by Mikati, was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami and ministers of Education, Abbas Halabi, Information, Ziad Makari, Finance, Youssef Khalil, Economy, Amin Salam, Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, Environment, Nasser Yassine, Culture, Mohammad Mortada, Health, Firas Abiad, Labor, Moustafa Bayram, Youth and Sports, Georges Kallas, Administrative Development, Najla Riachi, Telecommunications, Johnny Corm, Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, and Displaced Persons, Issam Charafeddine.
As usual, the meeting was boycotted by ministers close to the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), who consider that the government is overstepping its prerogatives in the absence of a president of the Republic and must confine itself to expediting current affairs.
According to official information provided by Makari at the end of the meeting, the government did not address the issue of the army command, although the retirement of the head of the military institution, General Joseph Aoun, on January 10 is drawing closer.
Makari dismissed as inaccurate media reports that the government was supposed to dwell on extending the term in office of the interim Director of General Security, General Elias Baissari. “Information published on this subject by certain media is unfounded. General Baissari is retiring in a year. We have plenty of time to discuss this matter,” he said.
Starlink
Makari said, “the government has instructed the Ministry of Telecommunications to conduct the necessary studies for setting up a commercial framework for the Internet service to be provided by Starlink, in coordination with the specialized military and security services.”
However, the proposal to provide internet access via starlink for a three-month trial period was rejected. The cabinet decided to wait until the study by the intelligence services and the Ministry of Telecoms had been completed.
The government also agreed to instruct the High Relief Committee to take stock of the damage caused by the Israeli bombings and raids on southern Lebanon since October 8.
Administrative Reform vs. Wage Increases
The strike by civil servants to press for better remuneration and benefits was discussed at the meeting as well, but no decision was taken. Two decrees prepared by the government are under scrutiny at the Ministry of Finance.
The Minister of Labor said the decrees include proposals for increases “based on precise studies.”
“We don’t want to increase inflation. The study being carried out is balanced and will benefit civil servants,” said Bayram.
Nonetheless, the study is not part of a reform plan, which is essential to solving the problem posed by a bloated and cumbersome administration riddled with cronyism and financed by taxpayers’ money, whom the government wants to burden with additional taxes and surcharges.
War in Gaza
In his address at the opening of the meeting, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed hope for a possible solution to the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
“Based on the meetings and contacts I had, it seems that the international trend is leaning toward working out a two-state solution based on human justice,” Mikati said.
Appreciating the efforts made by Arab and friendly countries to break the deadlock in the presidential elections and to monitor the situation in southern Lebanon, Mikati explained that he had discussed these two issues with the French President’s Special Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, whom he received at the Serail on Wednesday morning.
“I assured him that it is imperative that Israel put an end to its aggressions in southern Lebanon and Gaza. This is a priority for us,” he said.
