Parliament's Bureau Meets over Looming Legislative Session

Speaker Nabih Berri chaired on Monday a meeting for parliament's bureau which set a date for a legislative session, whose agenda is topped with the controversial public sector wage scale.

MP Marwan Hamadeh said following the meeting that the members of the bureau put the agenda of the session, which Berri would call for Wednesday.

It includes important loans and the wage scale, he said.

“We did not discuss about the extension of parliament’s term,” Hamadeh told reporters.

Berri was quoted as saying on Monday that the draft-law on the raise was his top priority, followed by other issues.

“If the positive conditions remain, then a date for the legislative session would be set,” Berri said.

His Development and Liberation bloc said Monday that it approved the wage scale in accordance with the latest amendments introduced to the draft-law.

The salary hike has been at the center of controversy since it was approved by the government of ex-PM Najib Miqati in 2012. Several parliamentary blocs had refused to approve the draft-law over fears that it would have devastating effects on the economy.

But recent meetings held between several blocs and Berri led to a deal on the scale.

Berri described his talks over the weekend with al-Mustaqbal bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora as “good.”

The two officials discussed the March 14 alliance's initiative on the presidential deadlock.

During the talks in Ain el-Tineh on Saturday, Saniora reiterated that the March 14 camp is ready to withdraw the candidacy of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea in return for a similar move by the March 8 camp on Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's candidacy.

The rival MPs have been unable to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman, whose six-year term ended in May, over their differences on a compromise candidate.

The deadlock has also paralyzed parliament, which has failed to hold sessions over the boycott of several blocs that claimed the assembly should not legislate in the absence of a president.

However, many lawmakers have recently announced their intention to participate in a session under the slogan of “necessary legislation.”

The presidential impasse has left a vacuum at Baabda Palace, and threatened to create more paralysis in the parliamentary elections.

Berri was asked by his visitors if the legislative session would include the approval of a draft-law to extend parliament's term for a second time.

He said the draft-law will be discussed when the time is ripe and reiterated his rejection to extend the tenure of the assembly.