Efforts are underway to activate the caretaker government in order to approve the budget law of 2019 - upon a call by Speaker Nabih Berri - in parallel with ongoing negotiations over the formation of a new government.
Berri has called upon the caretaker ministers to convene to approve the 2019 budget law, underlining the necessity of such a move in light of the country’s economic situation. The call was welcomed by the Lebanese Forces and Amal Movement, while the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) emphasized its rejection to any attempt to revive the caretaker government.
Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil had warned on Thursday that ministries would run out of finances if Lebanon failed to approve the budget law in January.
“The adoption of the budget in the caretaker government will not entail any political damage on Hariri, being the head of the caretaker government, the person in charge of forming the next government,” political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
On the other hand, Strong Lebanon Bloc MP Salim Aoun stressed that activating the caretaker government was “out of question”. It is based on an idea put forward in 1969 to adopt the budget law, he said.
A deputy in the LF-backed Strong Republic Bloc expressed “pessimism” towards the imminent formation of a new government.
MP Majed Eddy Abi Lamaa said: “We are with the activation of the caretaker government because some things cannot wait.”
For his part, member of Amal-backed Development and Liberation bloc, MP Fadi Alama, noted that Berri’s call “to activate the caretaker government has important objectives to accelerate the approval of the budget, as it turned out that the government file is taking time.”
