Finance Committee Reiterates Call to Finance and Public Works Ministries, Demands Clarifications on Subsidy for Public Transport Drivers

The Finance and Budget Committee held a session chaired by MP Ibrahim Kanaan, attended by MPs Ali Fayad, Alain Aoun, Ali Hassan Khalil, Adnan Tarablsi, Ghazi Zaiter, Hassan Fadlallah, Ihab Matar, Cesar Abi Khalil, Paula Yacoubian, Jamil Sayed, Amin Sherri, Waddah Al-Sadiq, Qasem Hashem, and representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs. The committee discussed opening an additional appropriation in the budget worth 1,450 billion and 800 million Lebanese pounds to support public transport drivers for passenger transportation for three months, and authorizing the government to conclude an agreement to avoid double taxation between Lebanon and Canada.

The committee unanimously noted a procedural observation regarding the absence of the relevant ministers and representatives of the General Confederation of Labor from the session. It considered that discussing this matter requires clarification of the financial policy followed regarding the subsidy allocated to public transport drivers, in terms of its size, method of expenditure, and distribution between owners of public license plates and those actually working on them. The discussion also requires further clarifications regarding the actual duration of the subsidy, not just the three months specified in the draft.

The committee requested the Minister of Finance to send a memo containing information about the state of the treasury, the impact of the project on other sectors, the transportation costs borne by citizens in various sectors, and the government's policy in this regard.

MP Kanaan decided to invite the Ministers of Finance and Public Works, as well as the heads of the General Confederation of Labor and transport unions, to an upcoming session to take appropriate decisions.

In the second item, the committee recorded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' reservation regarding the project on formal grounds, due to objections raised by the Lebanese Interest Office in Canada against the agreement. It became clear that the agreement was first presented in 1998, and the same objections were raised at that time, but it remained unratified.

The committee listened to clarifications from the Ministry of Finance and concluded that the Lebanese interest must be the primary focus and main motivation for approving any agreement. Accordingly, the committee chair sent a letter to the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, requesting the government to define this interest and provide additional clarifications regarding the reasons stated in the explanatory memorandum concerning the existence of a multilateral agreement that allows the Canadian state to request information without the need for this specific agreement, which contradicts the reason for concluding it.

The committee chair decided to schedule an upcoming session to follow up on the discussion after receiving the requested data.