Aoun Accuses Berri of ‘Hiding’ Draft-Laws, Says he ‘Liberated’ Hizbullah from FPM ‘Burden’
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun accused Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday of “hiding” the projects of Change and Reform bloc MPs proposed to parliament rather than pushing for their approval.
Berri is “hiding our projects” in the drawers of parliamentary offices, Aoun told al-Akhbar daily about the failure of parliament to discuss several draft-laws proposed by his bloc’s lawmakers, including the establishment of a security committee, and resolving the issue of Lebanese who have escaped to Israel and of property ownership by foreigners.
Media reports have said that ties between the FPM chief and Berri, who are both allied with Hizbullah, deteriorated after the Change and Reform bloc accused the speaker of encouraging the parliament’s approval of a draft-law on the full-time employment of Electricite du Liban workers without considering the cabinet’s bill.
Monday’s approval of the draft-law forced three Christian blocs, including the Change and Reform, to boycott the parliamentary session on Tuesday, leading to its suspension.
The ministers loyal to Aoun also boycotted a cabinet session.
Aoun stressed to al-Akhbar that the boycott has nothing to do with sectarian divisions after several MPs argued that the EDL bill would lead to the underrepresentation of Christians in state institutions.
“We are talking about administrative, organizational and legal standards,” the lawmaker said.
About his ties with Hizbullah, Aoun reiterated that he backs the party as a resistance against Israel. But in politics, “it was proved that the FPM’s priorities are different than the priorities of Hizbullah,” he said.
“I am not saying that there has been a separation between us and the party. I am just saying that we liberated the party from the burden of an internal political approach that probably exhausts it or that it cannot tolerate,” Aoun said.
Al-Akhbar hinted that the agreement reached between the FPM and Hizbullah in 2006 was in tatters after the Shiite party stood as an “observer” when EDL’s contract workers launched a strike two months ago to demand their employment rather than standing beside Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is Aoun’s son-in-law.
FPM sources also accuse Hizbullah of not pressuring Berri into adopting several of the draft-laws proposed by Change and Reform bloc MPs.
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