Speaking to Al-Manar Website, MP Salim Karam said Marada Movement backs Berri’s call for general session adding that Taif Agreement is not sacred

MP Salim Karam to Al-Manar Website:
We Back Berri’s Call for General Session amid Current Void
Taif Agreement Not Sacred… Amending it Remains Possible
Inter-Christian Tension Useless… Bkirki Meeting Excellent
Bkirki Meeting Not Political, Has No Link with Reconciliation
External Reasons behind Delay in Cabinet Formation Process
President Cannot Do Anything Because He Has No Powers

Member of Free and United Lebanon parliamentary bloc MP Salim Karam revealed that the Maronite meeting at Bkirki, in which he took part, was excellent, and noted that all Christian parties perceived that tension only leads to the country’s destruction.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar website, Karam said that the meeting focused on ways to restore balance to public administrations through the Christians’ effective participation in the state institutions. He denied that the gathering raised political issues and stressed that there was no link between the meeting and the Christian reconciliation, which was previously achieved.

MP Karam backed Patriarch Beshara Rahi’s call to amend the Taif Accord for the interest of the country and develop the Lebanese system. He noted that the Accord was not a holy book.

While speaking of external reasons behind the delay in the cabinet formation process, Karam declared his support for Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a general session next week and invited those who rejected the Speaker’s initiative as unconstitutional to present an alternative. He said that the country was witnessing a very alarming and worrying voice, while the President is unable to do anything because he has absolutely no powers at all.

RESTORING BALANCE TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS
The Marada movement MP started his interview with Al-Manar website by commenting on the meeting which was held Thursday at Bkirki (Patriarch’s headquarters). The meeting, headed by Patriarch Beshara Rahi, brought together 34 Maronite MPs, including Karam, as well as the country’s top Maronite political leaders.

According to Karam, the meeting focused on the Christian engagement in institutions, as its final statement stressed balance should also be restored to public administrations through the Christians’ participation in the state institutions. The statement underlined commitment to partnership and cooperation to build the state and develop society, as well as to Lebanon’s diversity and identity.

Karam said the atmosphere surrounding the meeting was very good, and stressed that all parties had perceived that Inter-Christian tension was useless and only leads to the country’s destruction.

The MP confirmed that the attendees agreed to form a follow up committee to monitor the cooperation between them.

NO RELATION BETWEEN MEETING AND RECONCILIATION
While he denied that the attendees discussed sensitive issues during their Bkirki meeting, Karam hailed the initiative launched by the Patriarch and aimed at bridging the gap among Lebanon’s rival Christian parties. “This step should have been taken a long time ago. However, activating it at this stage is a positive step,” he said.

He stressed there was no connection between the meeting and the Christian reconciliation process, which was previously achieved.

The Marada Party MP also denied that discussions among the Christian leaders who attended the meeting included some political issue. “The meeting was not political. Even the follow-up committee was not formed according to political standards,” he noted.

Karam said that the committee will be assigned to hold meetings during the upcoming phase and expressed readiness to take part in any similar meeting in the future, if asked to do so.

TAIF ACCORD NOT HOLY BOOK
During the interview, Karam said he backed Patriarch Rahi’s call to amend the Taif Agreement in order to develop the Lebanese system.

The patriarch has called for an amendment of the Taif Accord in order to increase the president’s powers “to stabilize the country’s political situation”. “If a second Taif (Constitution) was necessary to amend these gaps, so be it,” Rahi said, adding that “the current paralysis proves the need for the president to have greater political powers”. The Taif Accord, signed in 1989, brought to an end the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War and reformed Lebanon's political system by transferring executive powers from the president to the Cabinet.

Karam noted that “experience has shown that there are gaps in the Taif Accord…as the government is not yet formed and the president is deactivated,” he said.
“The Taif Accord is not a holy book,” he pointed out. “Amending it for the interest of the nation, not for the interest of a specific political bloc against another, is therefore possible,” he added.

The Lebanese lawmaker, meanwhile, found strange how some Lebanese regard the agreement as sacred and reject discussing of its content. “Is the country’s interest the priority of this group of Lebanese?” he wondered. “Let everyone know that the state is not anybody’s ownership. It’s the ownership of the land and nation.”

COUNTRY HEADING TOWARDS ABYSS
MP Karam warned that “the country is heading towards abyss given the huge number of crises facing the Lebanese these days”. He wondered whether this reality was acceptable and stressed “someone is responsible for this irresponsible paralysis”.

Answering a question about what prevents the new majority forces of forming the new government, Karam said this question should be addressed to those directly concerned with the cabinet formation process, “and in particular Prime Minister-Designate Najib Miqati”. He also spoke of two major factors delaying the cabinet’s birth: “External pressure and foreign meddling in Lebanese affairs”.

Karam said that his political party’s relationship with the other constituents of the new majority was “unfastened”. He also warned that the security situation was open to all possibilities amid the ongoing void.

LET THOSE WHO REJECT BERRI’S CALL OFFER ALTERNATIVE
The Marada movement lawmaker also expressed support to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a general session the parliament next week.

Earlier in the week, and despite fierce opposition from the part of the March 14 bloc, Berri called for a parliamentary session on June 8 to discuss legal proposals and draft laws.

Karam said the country was facing an alarming and worrying void, and that someone had to do something to fill in this gap. He noted that the President of the Republic cannot do anything in this context because he enjoys absolutely no powers to act. “That’s why the Parliament is the institution which has the duty to move on,” he went on to say.

However, the March 14 bloc rejects Berri’s call as unconstitutional and a blow to democratic parliamentary practices in Lebanon. “If the session was unconstitutional as they claim, let them provide us with the alternative,” MP Karam said.

Whether the former opposition (current majority) was ready to continue the process until the end, even if the March 14 bloc boycotted of the session, Karam said: “If we were able to secure quorum, we will continue until the end. If not, they will assume responsibility of obstructing the only possible alternative because they don’t want the state to move on.”

To conclude, Karam urged “the other bloc” to stop carrying out illegal practices and then covering them. “The Telecoms ministry incidents are exemplary in this context. A security officer has toppled two ministers, including one who decided to leave his ministry and go home,” he said.

MP Karam was referring to last Thursday’s events at the Telecoms Ministry where some 400 heavily-equipped members from the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch banned Telecoms Minister in the caretaker government Charbel Nahhas from entering the second story of the building attached to his ministry in Beirut. According to reports, a third telephone network existed on the second floor; one that was established in 2007 yet not made available to the Lebanese. The Information Branch’s behavior raised many eyebrows on the nature of the Ogero-Mobile network and the purpose of its existence. After Interior Minister in the caretaker government Ziad Baroud ordered the General Director of the Internal Security Forces Brigadier General Ashraf Rifi to evacuate the building, and Rifi refused to obey direct orders, Baroud resigned from his post.