Bassil Slams 'Populists', Says Some Issues Can be Postponed to 2020 Budget
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Monday said the FPM will vote in favor of the 2019 state budget and that “it is not populist like other parties who approved it in Cabinet and decided to vote against it in parliament.”
“We have started the reforms in the 2019 budget, but it is not the reformist budget that we were aspiring for,” Bassil said after the weekly meeting of the Strong Lebanon bloc.
“We must adopt the 2020 budget within the constitutional timeframe and we must finalize the economic plan before the end of the year,” he added.
In response to a question, the FPM chief said his movement has been calling for the presentation of final accounts for the years between 1993 and 2017 and that Minister Salim Jreissati has proposed a text to avoid any violation.
“We will vote in favor of the budget… The budget must be approved with its good articles while the rest of the issues can be left for the 2020 budget,” Bassil added.
As for the work of the government, the FPM chief said Prime Minister Saad Hariri “wants a political solution for the Aley incident.”
“We’re waiting for him to call for a cabinet session,” he added.
Source: Naharnet
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