Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, said that the important decisions and actions taken by the Cabinet on Monday "would not have been achieved without the cry of the young men and women who gave us many opportunities to achieve something, reached a point of despair, and took to the streets to express their anger and demand each in his own way."

He addressed the youth saying: "What you did on the streets broke all the barriers and shook all the parties. The most important barrier you broke is the barrier of blind sectarian loyalty. You brought the Lebanese national identity back to its right place."  

Hariri described the approval of the budget, with an approximate deficit of 0.63%, as the biggest achievement that allows us to address the economic and financial situation.

Hariri's remarks came at the end of the Cabinet's meeting held today in Baabda Palace and chaired by President Michel Aoun.

He said: "Since I took this responsibility, I have been telling all the partners in the country and the government that the goal of the political practice is to secure the dignity of the people. It is true that the dignity of the people comes from the national dignity, from the feeling of sovereignty, freedom and independence, but its basis is the individual dignity that comes from having jobs, basic services, health services, schools and social security. I have been saying this since the government formation, and I have been telling all the partners that we have to take necessary steps to begin to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, as I said three days ago, none of these steps were achieved. The result is that the young men and women in our country, after being patient and giving us many opportunities to achieve something, have reached a place of despair. The result of this despair is that they exploded. They exploded and took to the streets to express their anger and demands, each in his own way.

The demands are many, rightful and diverse, but the clear and unanimous demand of all is their dignity, respect and the respect of their voice. Faced with this reality, I spoke three days ago, and gave my government partners 72 hours to achieve a series of measures. To be very clear. I did not ask for this delay from the youth in the streets because I do not ask anything from them but they ask from me. It is my duty to be at their service, and they are the ones who give time limits to everyone. 

I gave this deadline to the partners of the government, to achieve the minimum necessary actions required for two years now. These procedures have been approved. Some were approved in the budget today and some are measures we have taken from outside the budget. I will mention some of them:

1- A budget deficit of 0.6%, without any new or additional taxes on people.

2- The banking sector and the Central Bank contribute to reducing the deficit with 5100 billion pounds during 2020, including an increase in the tax on bank profits.

3- 50% reduction of the salaries of current and former presidents, ministers and deputies.

4- Reduce the budgets of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Central Fund of the Displaced and the Council for South Lebanon by 70%.

5- Reduce one thousand billion pounds from the electricity deficit.

6- Approve the draft amnesty law before the end of the current year.

7- Adopt the pension fund before the end of the current year.

8- additional 20 billion Lebanese pounds for the National Poverty Targeting Program. We will also take a loan from the World Bank, around $100 million, which has been negotiated, and we will soon approve it to empower the poorest households, with a 1% interest rate. The difference is that when we pay from our pockets, we pay interest up to 13, 15 and 17%, but here we take for this project one hundred million dollars and pay it over thirty years at 1% interest. 

9- $160 million to support housing loans.

10- Prepare a draft law for the recovery of looted money. I know that there are lawyers from civil society working on ideas on this subject. We will ask them to cooperate with us in order to prepare a law to recover these funds.

11- Law establishing the national anti-corruption commission before the end of this year.

12- Install scanners at border crossings to combat smuggling and tighten penalties on smugglers.

13- Immediately abolish the Ministry of Information and a number of public institutions and develop a plan to merge or abolish all unnecessary institutions. When we say abolition, this does not mean that we will throw people out, but a part of it will be integrated and we may use corporatization in other places, so let no one fear that he may lose his job.

14- Appoint the regulatory bodies of electricity, telecommunications and civil aviation.

15- Accelerate the contracting of electricity power plants to be completed within 4 months.

16- Approve the first phase of CEDRE projects worth $11 billion within three weeks. This is the main drive of growth in the economy and job creation for young men and women over the next five years.

17- Launch the northern and southern entrances projects of Beirut LINOR and ELYSSAR.

And to be clear, there is a complete change of mentality in this budget. Investment spending from the budget is almost zero, thus closing the door on squander and corruption because the government does not spend a penny. The entire expenditure is from foreign investment, where there is no squander or corruption, because the external investor does not accept squander and corruption, and we rely entirely on foreign direct investment, which guarantees the growth.

These are, as I said, some of the decisions taken in the Cabinet today, and the full decisions will be read out by the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers.

Regarding the issue of the cellular, we will bring a financial advisor that will examine all that could lead to the privatization of this sector, what revenues we will gain, what is our share, give us options, and we decide in the cabinet.

Now, I would like to address the youth and all Lebanese who are expressing their anger, demanding their dignity and their rights in the streets: These decisions we made today may not meet your demands, but they certainly fulfill what I have been demanding for two years, since day one of the formation of the government as a first step to start the solutions, to accomplish some of your demands. These decisions are not to be traded. This means I am not asking you to stop demonstrating and expressing you anger. This is a decision you take and nobody is giving you a deadline. Be sure that I will not allow anyone to threaten you or try to scare you. It is the state's duty to protect you and your peaceful expression of your rightful demands, because you are the compass, and you are the ones who stimulated the Council of Ministers, and frankly, it is your movement that brought today's decisions. From my responsible position, I did what you saw in these three days. You are demanding your dignity, your national and individual dignity, job opportunities, basic services, security and respecting your voice.

You must know that your voice is heard, and if you want early parliamentary elections so that your vote alone can decide, then I, Saad Hariri, personally support this demand!

What I have done today in the cabinet is a first step. Whoever is in the position has no other choice but to do this step. But you must know that what you have done broke all barriers, shook all the parties and leaderships. The most important barrier that was broken is the blind sectarian loyalty barrier.

You brought back the Lebanese national identity to its right place above any sectarian identity. This is the biggest national gain. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end of the sectarian system in Lebanon. A real beginning for the new Lebanon…Long live Lebanon.   "