Meetings in parliament on the sidelines of the legislative session on Monday enabled the rival political parties of reaching an agreement over the controversial issue of financial spending following months of political quarrelling.

The deal on the LL11 billion bill was reached after some amendments were agreed.

Premier Najib Miqati is exerting every effort to guarantee a cabinet consensus on the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011 to avoid an embarrassment after the discussion of the issue was postponed for the second week in a row on Wednesday.

Sources close to Miqati told An Nahar daily published Friday that the solution to the spending crisis continues to face obstacles but hoped that a session set by the PM for next week would give him enough time to find an exit to the bickering between the cabinet’s different members.

The head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan held President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati responsible for the current “poor” situation regarding the government spending file.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Thursday: “Their failure to approve the $5.9 billion spending bill is aimed at vindicating previous governments at the expense of public funds and the constitution.”

Minister of State Panos Manjian has confirmed that the cabinet will convene in Baabda Palace next Wednesday to discuss the extra-budgetary spending and 35 other articles on its agenda.

In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3), Manjian said the agenda that was distributed to the cabinet ministers on Friday night includes 36 articles led by the spending issue.

A proposal by three March 8 lawmakers to probe alleged spending violations made between 1993 and 2011 is aimed at taking the dispute with the March 14 opposition to new levels, highly informed parliamentary sources said Sunday.

The proposal was made on Saturday by Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Ali Fayyad, Development and Liberation bloc lawmaker Yassine Jaber and Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan to form a parliamentary investigative committee to “probe the violations of spending made since the beginning of 1993 until the end of 2011.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan welcomed a request submitted by Lebanese Forces lawmaker George Adwan at the parliament to form an investigation committee concerning the leasing of power-generating vessels, media reports said on Tuesday.

“The formation of the committee would make the issue more transparent,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper.

President Michel Suleiman is mulling to issue a decree on a $5.9 billion extra-budgetary 2011 spending over fears that public sector employees would fail to receive their salaries and state projects would stop by the end of May.

Suleiman discussed the issue with the head of the parliamentary finance and budget committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, at Baabda palace on Wednesday.

The cabinet has approved draft-laws to conduct an audit on extra-budgetary spending made between 2006 and 2010 by the governments of ex-Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri.

The approval came during an eight-hour session held at Baabda Palace under President Michel Suleiman which also witnessed a solution to the controversial electricity plan.

The head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan slammed Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi’s report on the extra-budgetary spending of the governments of former Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri, saying that he omitted various forms of revenue, such as grants and donations.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday: “It appears that the report is aimed at allowing a settlement to be reached over extra-budgetary spending.”

The cabinet is set to discuss on Wednesday the detailed accounts of the extra-budgetary spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri between 2006 and 2010.

The information that is detailed by the finance ministry in five separate draft-laws was circulated to cabinet ministers in an appendix for discussion by the government in addition to the 76-item agenda.