Lebanon: Mustaqbal Boycotts Baabda Palace Meeting on Reform Plan

Arab World

May 4th, 6:42am

Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat

Meeting of the Mustaqbal Movement (NNA)

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc has snubbed a meeting called for by President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Presidential Palace on Wednesday to brief lawmakers on the government's economic plan. “The natural place for informing the parliamentary blocs on the government’s program is the parliament,” the bloc said. It pointed to “political and legal practices that go beyond the limits of the Constitution, perpetuating the notion of a presidential system at the expense of the parliamentary democratic system." The Presidency’s press office issued a response to Mustaqbal’s rejection to attend the Baabda meeting. If it’s the bloc’s right to apologize from attending the meeting, “it does not have the right to claim the presence of political practices that exceed the limits of the Constitution,” it said. It added that the objectives of the meeting are clear and specific in extending an invitation to the heads of parliamentary blocs, namely to inform them about the reform plan and hear their remarks. “The aim of the meeting is not to vote on the plan,” the statement underlined. Later on Sunday, Speaker Nabih Berri’s visitors said he would attend Wednesday’s meeting, denying rumors that he was irked by the president’s invitation to parliamentary bloc leaders. Reports had said that Berri considered Aoun’s move as an infringement on his parliamentary powers. The Progressive Socialist Party has not yet decided if it would participate in the meeting, sources said. Reports had earlier said the PSP would dispatch an MP to the Baabda meeting instead of party leader Walid Jumblatt. Al-Mustaqbal bloc disclosed that it is "in the process of preparing its political, technical and economic remarks on the government’s plan.” As for the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party, their response to the Baabda invitation remains unclear. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Strong Republic bloc (LF) would attend the meeting but has not yet decided on the level of such participation. A Free Patriotic Movement MP, Simon Abi Ramia, wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday that failure to attend the Baabda meeting “is a crime against the nation.” The Lebanese government approved its economic reform plan on Thursday to save the country from its grave crisis.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2266481/lebanon-mustaqbal-boycotts-baabda-palace-meeting-reform-plan