Bassil Urges Govt. to 'Impose Plan', Resist 'Politicians, Protesters Blackmail'
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday urged the new government to “impose a monetary plan” and resist what he called the “blackmail” of both politicians and protesters.
“If the government wants to overcome the crisis and this is still possible, it has to raise its voice… and it should not bow to the blackmail of politicians seeking to keep their privileges nor to the blackmail of street protesters voicing unjustified political demands,” Bassil said in a speech before parliament as MPs debated Cabinet’s policy statement ahead of a confidence vote.
Bassil called on the government to “impose a comprehensive monetary plan in coordination with the central bank governor” and “end the policy of blind borrowing for high interest rates.”
He also urged it to “end the policy of pegging the (dollar) exchange rate,” noting that “it is costly and a big lie” and that “the lira’s price has been illusory since a long time.”
And calling on the government to “legalize and regularize the capital control, recover the stolen funds and expose the culprits,” Bassil called for “restructuring debt after negotiating and conducting a comprehensive study and survey.”
Bassil also urged protecting small depositors, merging some banks and recovering “the funds of the central bank’s financial engineering operations.”
“We will give a chance and if the government does not act quickly and differently without bowing to blackmail, we will be the ones who will topple it and we won’t wait for anyone. We will act against it in parliament and on the streets. Beware because the time is tight and the options are clear, so do not waste the time or the chance,” Bassil went on to say.
Source: Naharnet
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