Aoun Meets Retired Military Deputies in Wake of Protests
Following the protests staged by retired military personnel over possible cuts to their end of service benefits, President Michel Aoun held a meeting on Wednesday with six parliament deputies who are also retired military servicemen, the National News Agency said.
NNA said that talks focused on the state budget and the “rights” of the military.
Aoun met with MPs Shamel roukuz, Jamil Sayyed, Antoun Pano, Walid Sukkarieh, Jean Talouzian and Wehbeh Katisha, said NNA.
“The state must stop all the sources where public funds are being wasted and it must also stop the thefts before approaching anywhere near the pockets of citizens,” said Sayyed after the meeting which took place in Baabda.
“Because the budget was not passed to the Defense Minister, and because the Finance Ministry does not realize the impact of the suggestions it made, we asked the President to refer all the budget items related to the army and retired servicemen to the Defense Ministry,” added Sayyed.
On Tuesday, Sayyed “warned” Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil that “encroaching on the rights of retired servicemen is playing with fire.”
Referring to the retired servicemen who staged several sit-ins on Tuesday morning in rejection of any austerity-related wage cuts, he said "these demonstrators are the voice of all Lebanese.”
Source: Naharnet
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