In an interview with Voice of Lebanon, Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra said on Sunday that “cracks” in the new majority were expected because the cabinet lineup is inconsistent.
“There is a party attempting to control the country ( in reference to Hezbollah) , another party, represented by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and his bloc that participated to prevent strife and maintain civil peace , and there is a third party which is in a hurry to make gains through the positions it holds.” A possible reference to Change and Reform bloc which is headed by MP Michel Aoun.
Extortion
March 14 MP Michel Faraoun said on Saturday that the amount of money Bassil is demanding for his energy draft bill is a sort of “extortion.”
Faraoun told Future TV that the amount requested Aoun’s allies and not the March 14 alliance.
The MP also said that the Change and Reform bloc “does not want to guarantee accountability in the parliament, it wants the project to pass as soon as possible in order to achieve personal gains.”
The parliament in August rejected Aoun’s energy bill which called for to transferring $1.2 billion in funds to the Energy Ministry( which is headed by Aoun’s son-in-law Gibran Bassil), while the cabinet is still discussing his proposal which is facing major opposition from the centrist bloc .
Aoun warned that he will withdraw his ministers if the cabinet does not approve his bill, but Jumblatt warned that either his party’s remarks on the electricity bill are taken into account or his ministers will not approve it.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.