Ten sovereignist MPs lodged an invalidation appeal with the Constitutional Council on Monday, challenging the State budget law for fiscal year 2024.
The MPs include the Kataeb MPs Samy Gemayel, Nadim Gemayel, Elias Hankach and Salim Sayegh, the Renewal bloc MPs Michel Moawad, Achraf Rifi and Fouad Makhzoumi, and Change Coalition MPs Mark Daou, Michel Douaihy and Waddah Sadek.
In a statement, Moawad affirmed that the budget is “the worst finance law Lebanon has ever seen.” “It undermines the Lebanese who abide by the law to the benefit of those who engage in smuggling, and undermines the legal economy to the benefit of smuggling,” he said.
“They don’t want to carry out reforms,” deplored Moawad, noting that the vote on this budget took place in a chaotic atmosphere, stating that they “will try to carry out reforms again.”
For his part, Daou described the budget as “catastrophic,” stressing that the citizen “will pay the price for the attitude of every MP who voted for this law.”
“We are going to present new bills to amend many articles of this budget in order to rectify the situation regarding the citizens’ rights,” he claimed.
Published in the Official Gazette on February 15, the Finance Law had already been the subject of an appeal for invalidation submitted on the same day by the Strong Republic bloc (Lebanese Forces). Following this appeal, the Constitutional Council suspended the application of five articles (36, 45, 72, 92, 93) of this law, which the LF deputies had deemed to constitute budget riders (meaning legislative provisions that have no place in the framework of finance laws).
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The Finance Bill for 2024 was passed by Parliament on January 26 and approved by the government on February 8.
