Lebanese President Michel Aoun responded on Tuesday to the growing wave of opposition to Article 49 of the State Budget Law, which stipulates the granting of residency to every Arab or foreigner who buys a housing unit in Lebanon.
Aoun sent a letter to Parliament, asking it to reconsider the article, before agreeing with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to put the issue on hold, pending a decision by the Constitutional Council on the motion filed by ten deputies, led by the head of Kataeb Party, MP Sami Gemayel.
Article 49 stipulates that any foreigner, who purchases a property worth at least $300,000, would receive a residency along with his family. The residency would remain valid as long as the foreigner retains ownership of the property.
The article sparked a wave of opposing reactions, including by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, who voiced the Lebanese people’s concerns over the repercussions of such law, calling for its abolition. He also underlined the need to amend and suspend the law on the ownership of foreigners, “as the number of such people now exceeds half the population of Lebanon.”
Despite an attempt by the head of the Finance and Budget parliamentary committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, to calm down the fears of the resettlement of displaced Syrians in Lebanon, saying that “the residency of foreigners in Lebanon does not allow them to have the Lebanese nationality”, the Maronite Patriarch remained firm in his position, putting great pressure on the officials to reconsider the law.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Former Minister Salim al-Sayegh, who is close to the head of the Kataeb Party, said that the budget law “includes several constitutional violations, but the most important is Article 49, which affects the Lebanese identity and the issue of land purchase.”
“This article needs a broader discussion and cannot pass through the budget law,” he added.
