SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 19 March 2024, Tuesday |

Some Lebanese ministers announce rejection of tomorrow’s cabinet session on constitutional grounds

Caretaker Ministers Abdallah Bou Habib, Henry Khoury, Maurice Selim, Amin Salam, Hector Hajjar, Walid Fayyad, Walid Nassar, George Boushkian and Issam Sharafeddine, issued a joint statement this evening, in which they declared their rejection of tomorrow’s cabinet session and called on the Prime Minister-designate to withdraw his invitation for said session.

“The resigned prime minister surprised us by calling to convene a cabinet session with a loose and floundering agenda of 65 to 25 items, while our government is a caretaker government (in the narrow sense of the word) and has not met since it was considered resigned as of last May,” the statement said.

The Caretaker Ministers considered that the proposed items on the cabinet’s agenda can be resolved without convening a cabinet, as was previously done in urgent and important issues.

They pledged their commitment to respecting and preserving the constitution and not disturbing the constants of national balance.

Accordingly, they declared their rejection of convening the Council of Ministers in session from a constitutional and charter standpoint, particularly since Article 64 of the Lebanese Constitution is clear in terms of not permitting a government to exercise its powers when resigned, except in the narrow sense of caretaker business.

“We refuse to violate the Constitution, and we do not accept to be partners in striking the National Pact, and we appeal to all fellow ministers to stand together by the Constitution and national unity…and we urge the Prime Minister to withdraw his call so as not to make the situation in the country more difficult,” the Ministers asserted in their statement.

    Source:
  • NNA