Press conference of FPM president MP Gebran Bassil
The session held yesterday by the government is considered unconstitutional, illegal and illegitimate.
It leads to the following points:
1 - A blow against the Constitution, as well as a rupture of the partnership and the national balance. An unbalanced Lebanese partnership can no longer be considered as such, namely that the partnership in itself is considered as an existence, a role.
Our free and independent existence is more precious than any authority.
2 - The abolition of the Constitution, which would lead to constitutional chaos and will deal a fatal blow to the Taif agreement which they claim to protect. They slaughter it only to regret it afterwards.
3 - A sharp blow to a momentous national agreement (achieved and announced in Parliament) and tacitly accepted, and quite frankly, our free and independent existence is far more valuable than any agreement (more important than any defense strategy).
In short, this translates into the fact that they declared during yesterday's meeting that they will be able to promulgate decree laws without the signature of the President of the Republic and without the signature of the entire Council of Ministers which exercises the powers of the interim president in accordance with the Constitution (article 62).
This means that we are faced with a republic without a President, in the absence of his own signature or that of his representatives, which is amply illustrated by the decree proposed for signature.
- What happened is no less than a premeditated and unconstitutional attack on the place occupied by the Presidency of the Republic, since they explain it as they please and as they see fit.
- What happened is a confirmation that what was asked from the start of Najib Mikati is to refrain from forming any government (and this is what I affirmed to Hezbollah and to all those who contacted me concerning our position against naminghimknowing that if he was named he would not form a government). Mikati also recognized this in Parliament on 3/11/2022.
- What happened is proof that the hidden reason is to get their hands on power, while the country is without a president and thus to grab his prerogatives and powers, and that is the intention which was proclaimed by the Prime Minister during the various sessions concerning the manner in which the caretaker government will exercise the powers of the President in the event of a vacancy; and this was publicly stated in an official speech that took place in August, alleging that not all ministers are a part of the President of the Republic.
- What happened on the constitutional level is a fatal blow to articles 62 and 64 which are very explicit in themselves; indeed, the first stipulates that the government does not exercise its powers in the event of resignation, something which has been practiced in a flagrant, cowardly and indifferent manner, by meeting, ratifying, calculating a quorum, and signing decrees; and the second stipulates that the powers of the President are transferred to the Council of Ministers as a whole, which exercises them temporarily and in session, and not to the government or to one of its members, whereas they have convened the Council of Ministers without it being complete, or even in the absence of the third of its ministers.
And there, we have to go back to a practice that we carried out from 2014 to 2016 after a long discussion, which nobody complained about at the time, with a complete government; all the ministers ratified the decrees in place of the President of the Republic, they were all informed of the agenda 48 hours in advance and consulted the Prime Minister on this subject, so that he could add to or remove from the agenda, taking the place of the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic is indivisible - there are powers attached to his person that no one can steal, such as taking an oath before him, and powers attached to his post that must be signed by all ministers without exception or division. Therefore, it is not valid to fragment them if the ministers do not agree; there cannot therefore be, for example, 16 ministers for and 8 against, as if one third of the President of the Republic is against and two thirds for.
All the ministers must be in favor, so that the subject object of the signature starts to work, otherwise it will not - it is for this reason that it is essential that the ministers are unanimously in agreement when it comes to a question relating to the President of the Republic - as a result, the Council of Ministers cannot meet when some of its members abstain in the event that it has all its powers, so what about if the third of its members are against, and even more so if it is an interim government which does not even have the right to meet???
What happened at the constitutional level is aberrant to any constitution; at a critical national moment, with a vacuum at the level of the Presidency of the Republic, and a major economic collapse affecting the country, some have decided once again to flout an initial component of the Council of Ministers, as if they were bringing us back to an era that we considered to be over.
And if anyone believes that they could take us back to the period before 2005, replacing the real representatives with surrogates, and believes that this process could give him the legitimacy to choose a representative on their behalf, and thinks that this is how he would save the country, then he would have to exile us, imprison us or kill us (no less than that), and whoever feels able to do so should do it – no going back to the post 2005 period as long as we are alive!
The era of authoritarianism and domination over our political existence has made the state lose its weight and its balance, devoured by corruption, and because of it and because of its policies we arrived to the collapse that we are living - that time is over and will not return as long as we exist.
Our position is very strong and it draws its strength from the national partners who have never gave up on Lebanon, with its coexistence and its way of being - the son of Salam and the son of Arslan have always supported what preserves the Constitution since they are part of it and know its meaning and value.
- What happened politically is that there was an agreement, after everyone was sure that Mikati will not form a government, and that we will not put our trust in Mikati, and that we will not accept the summoning of a government as if the situation we are going through was normal, that a government will only be summoned for very urgent matters - an earthquake - and with the agreement of all the components of government - and at that point we informed them that we would not agree, and the response we received in return was: It is your full right.
This matter was confirmed in Parliament, with the Prime Minister assuring everyone that he would not engage in any act of provocation - and to those who know him, the lie was plainly visible on his features.
It is obvious that there was a prior agreement to hold the session, otherwise Mikati would never have dared to call it - and our problem is not Mikati, since he is incapable of accomplishing such a thing without his puppeteers - and we have absolutely no need for evidence attesting and guaranteeing his sincerity and credibility.
Our problem lies with the presumed correct people, who have breached the agreement (the promise and their word) - and this is not the first time that this has happened, as for example with the vote of expatriates, the parliamentary elections, and most recently with the government.
Do you really believe that the confrontation is with Mikati?
The problem lies with those who openly declared that the government could meet and that the decrees do not need the signature of all the ministers, whereas the previous time they had required all the ministers!!!
These are the same people who froze a government endowed with all the powers with a President of the Republic at its head, on the pretext that the matter did not fall within the powers of the government; they opposed it and decided not to attend the Council of Ministers, which caused the government to be frozen for 4 months...
It is to these same people that we reached out and supported them for two years in the streets because they had resigned from the government, which had thus become unconstitutional and handicapped.
Today the government seems constitutional to them in the presence of Saadeh Al-Shami, Najla Riachi and George Kallassi?
The partnership breaks if it is cracked, be it a national partnership or a partnership between parties.
Many will criticize me by saying that it would open the way for our opponents to gloat! True, but not at the expense of our presence, our role and our freedom.
Our role is our weapon which we will only give up for a role that is considered more important for the country (and not less important).
It is clear that what is required is to provoke and break all will.
What is required is to shake the balance ensured by the struggle undertaken by the Free Patriotic Movement and the era of General Aoun.
Our balanced partnership is the measure of freedom and dignity, and to defend our free existence is to defend our lives. Freedom is our oxygen!
And if someone believes that he is pressuring us regarding the presidency - we tell him that it is useless... On the contrary!
You are perfectly aware that we did not submit to the United States and that we stood against the whole world as well as took the sanctionsto defend our conviction, and especially our freedom, and that no one forces us to accept what goes against our conviction.
Whoever decided to inflate Mikati should redo his calculations and tell him to withdraw from the battle arena because the slightest phone call from the US Treasury can deflate him...
This does not happen under any pretext, neither in the name of stability within the Shiite component, nor in the name of the conspiracy of sedition, nor under the pretext of ignorance or constraint vis-à-vis the people...
Why did the constraint vis-à-vis the people not exist during the 4 months of government freeze?
Why didn't it exist since May when you took the decision not to form a government?
Or when there were decisions that did not pass before the void in order to make them pass today?
Where are the people'sinterests when you refrain from making all the necessary reforms?
All the solutions exist, and you resort to them when it pleases you without authorization or constitution.
How do you manage to pay 50 million dollars monthly for medicine of incurable diseases?
By decisions taken by the government or through certain arrangements with the BDL?
The solutions are many and we can name some of them:
First: Each minister works as a constitutional authority within his ministry, with the possibility of making exceptional decisions due to the exceptional situation, certainly after consultation with the parties concerned.
Second: Ordinary decrees (not issued by the Council of Ministers) are roving decrees and signed by all ministers in place of the President of the Republic.
Third: The Parliament is an existing constitutional institution which could exceptionally be turned to in the event of an exceptional matter having a major urgency.
The solutions are numerous, in particular those relating to humanitarian and vital conditions; they will all be taken into consideration when they come from a broad national consensus; but any solution external to the Constitution results in a national division, and constitutes an act of suicide, regression and collapse.
What is the reason when onehas recourse to a solution he himself declares that it is a provocative one?
Moreover, this same person is fully aware that this is an illegal and unconstitutional solution, and therefore the decisions rendered may in any case be challenged, and are subject to judicial cancellation if the judiciary fulfills its duty well in invalidating them.
Also, we will not accept that a fait accompli be imposed on us in this way - we refused the last session held (which does not need just two thirds for it to be legal; even the absence of a single minister, a group or a component would be enough to make it illegal!) as well as its decisions, and we will reject any subsequent session, by our many available means whether political, ministerial or popular.
And no one thinks that anyone could take the place of certain ministers such as those of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Social Affairs, Energy, Economy, Tourism, Displaced Persons, and others. This situation has lasted long enough especially in the presence of many solutions that could remedy it.
He who really cares about people's pain, should have enacted laws 3 years ago such as those relating to capital control, or the return of funds transferred abroad, namely that the transfer of funds abroad persists until now - and why do we continue until now to transfer money abroad and why do we protect the one who stole the money from the Lebanese?
He who cares seriously about the pain of the people, should start worrying about the situation of the people of his city (Tripoli), their poverty and their suffering.
Whoever really cares about the pain of the people, would not have accepted that the issue of the displaced Syrians in 2011 takes place during his mandate and that of his government; which caused the inhabitants of his town to flee on the edge of the death boats while his yacht floats on the waves of their agony!
He who wants to bring together the Council of Ministers for the broadcast of the World Cup should have paid for it out of his own pocket; him owing so much to the public treasury. May the soul of His Excellency Omar Karami rest in peace.
He who cares about the State and the pain of the people, would not have stopped the capital control just before the legislative elections, so that we do not derive any interest fromit popularity wise, and would not have stopped it again before the presidential elections when he saw that it could affect a system intending to renew itself with a president who is already part of it.
What happened is very dangerous and we will not participate in meetings of Parliament until there is a major national need that is biggerthan all of us; and we will do everything possible to waive the blank vote in order to have a candidate; moreover, we will put greater pressure towards the option of an extended decentralization because the situation as it is,is no longer conceivable!
Our role is our weapon, and no one can disarm us - and we all need a patriotic embrace from all sides; whoever thinks he can remove a party from this national embrace is greatly mistaken and is only running towards his own demise.