Source: Al-Manar TV, 28-01-2009

The cabinet session on the 2009 draft budget held in Baabda, and presided over by President Michel Suleiman, was adjourned until Friday, January 30.
Last minute deliberations succeeded Tuesday in preventing a vote on the South Council budget and gave President Suleiman more time, until Friday, to sort out a settlement for the disagreement between Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.

Acting Minister of Information Ghazi Zeiter told reporters after the session that the cabinet had been discussing the budget of the Displaced Fund and South Council and called on the media to stop giving an impression that the ministers did not concur regarding those two, adding, "as if cancelling the funds was proposed." However, he said, "the cabinet supported the cancellation of the funds only after resolving all pending issues."

Speaker Nabih Berri told An-Nahar newspaper on Wednesday that he had previously proposed the cancellation of the South Council, Displaced Fund, High Relief Committee and Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and designating their tasks to the Ministry of Design.
The ministry is currently closed, but it was founded by late Minister Maurice Gemayel. Berri noted that the ministry should be opened for work and would be in charge of defining the need of development across all areas.

On the debate with Prime Minister Fouad Saniora concerning this issue, Berri added that the sole solution remains in implementing the laws, which "means that as long as they still exist, the cabinet should specify a budget for them similarly to other institutions."
In an interview with As-Safir newspaper on Wednesday, he said that that it was unacceptable to cancel the work of the South Council, especially because "it is directly concerned to deal with citizens' compensations after the 2006 July War."

In the meantime, there were no indications to signal a change of position between disputing parties over the South Council budget.
According to As-Safir daily, Saniora's sources underlined the PM's insistence on excluding the South Council budget from this year's state budget. Speaker Berri, however, disagreed and stressed that ‘a state budget that violates the law would not pass."

Berri added that "canceling the South Council budget is suspicious, particularly that this institution is directly concerned in compensations for the "Israeli" aggressions as well as the martyrs and the injured...We reiterate that we don't mind canceling the South Council, however this should be in the framework of a single package that would include the Displaced Fund, the Higher Relief Council, the Development and Reconstruction Council and the South Council. They should be replaced with a planning ministry to serve all Lebanese territories."

"Until then, the South Council is an official institution that requires a budget to function," as is the case with other funds and councils. "The law must be observed...We will not accept any ‘punitive' policy. The rights of the people come first and it is not allowed to lose these rights...Times like these have ended."

PM Saniora publicly announced that he used compensation money for purposes other than giving them to their rightful owners who seriously suffered from the "Israeli" war on Lebanon in 2006.

In general, Tuesday's session was calm and President Suleiman informed the cabinet of the decisions of Monday's national dialogue session, which, he said called for appointing needed personnel for the administrative slots as soon as possible, defining a mechanism to consolidate Lebanon's stance, which rejected the Palestinians permanent settlement in Lebanon, and resolving the issue of the Palestinian arms outside the refugee camps.