Berri: No Boycott on Monday’s Oil Bill Meeting

Local Editor

Speaker Nabih Berri told As-Safir that parliamentary commissions will start discussing the law proposal regarding the oil issue and that this does not contradict the cabinet's action in this respect. Berri said that "when the cabinet finalizes the draft law on oil drilling, we will add it to the proposal."

However, Berri warned that if a quorum is foiled again on Monday, he will call another session of the joint committees. Last Wednesday's committees did not meet because not enough MPs showed up to meet the quorum.

Monday's meeting is to look over a proposal presented to parliament last week by Development and Liberation bloc MP Ali Hassan Khalil. Energy Minister Gebran Bassil presented his own bill on the issue to the cabinet in late March. Bassil said during a press conference last week that there were "some differences" between his bill and Khalil's.

Berri said that the contacts made over the past few days helped to provide a positive atmosphere for today's session, which - as he was told - nobody intends to boycott.