MPs voice diverging positions during parliamentary budget debate
1/29/2026 11:46:12 AM
Several lawmakers set out contrasting positions during the ongoing parliamentary session debating the draft state budget.
MP Faisal Karami criticized the budget as lacking vision or strategy, describing it as a "budget of numbers." While noting that the current government did not cause the recent building-collapse tragedy in Tripoli, he held it responsible for any future negligence, urging immediate funding for rehabilitation, faster trials, and fairness for retirees and civil defense personnel.
Speaker Nabih Berri indicated progress on the issue of end-of-service compensation for retirees and announced that reconstruction would be discussed at the Cabinet session scheduled for the following day.
MP Ali Fayyad described the budget as "corrective rather than reformist," arguing it deepens social inequality through higher taxes on wages while failing to address public-sector pay or present a development vision. He reiterated adherence to national constants, including Israeli withdrawal, reconstruction, and prisoner release.
MPs Georges Atallah and Ghassan Atallah also criticized the absence of an economic reform roadmap, calling for fair taxation, improved public-sector salaries, clear responsibility-sharing over the financial gap, and concrete action plans from every ministry, including equitable treatment of long-standing compensation files.
MP Faisal Karami criticized the budget as lacking vision or strategy, describing it as a "budget of numbers." While noting that the current government did not cause the recent building-collapse tragedy in Tripoli, he held it responsible for any future negligence, urging immediate funding for rehabilitation, faster trials, and fairness for retirees and civil defense personnel.
Speaker Nabih Berri indicated progress on the issue of end-of-service compensation for retirees and announced that reconstruction would be discussed at the Cabinet session scheduled for the following day.
MP Ali Fayyad described the budget as "corrective rather than reformist," arguing it deepens social inequality through higher taxes on wages while failing to address public-sector pay or present a development vision. He reiterated adherence to national constants, including Israeli withdrawal, reconstruction, and prisoner release.
MPs Georges Atallah and Ghassan Atallah also criticized the absence of an economic reform roadmap, calling for fair taxation, improved public-sector salaries, clear responsibility-sharing over the financial gap, and concrete action plans from every ministry, including equitable treatment of long-standing compensation files.