STL Funding Paves Way for FPM to Ask for Solution to Vital Issues

The Free Patriotic Movement has given its consent to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to avert the collapse of the government although it was not yet clear on Thursday if it agreed to the way the transfer was made.

“The citizens’ problems are more important than the funding of the tribunal,” Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud, who is loyal to FPM chief Michel Aoun, said on Thursday.

He told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the FPM ministers will attend the upcoming cabinet session to assess Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s keenness on resolving the vital issues.

Abboud criticized the mechanism followed by the premier to pay Lebanon’s dues, saying: “We have repeated the illegal technique of the distribution of funds, as if the PM became the president.”

Miqati said Wednesday he had transferred Lebanon's share of funds for the U.N.-backed court probing the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. He also said on twitter that it was time to prioritize stability, tranquility, reform, debt management, economic recovery, job creation and growth.

Lebanon is responsible for meeting 49 percent of the STL's financing, which amounted to 32 million dollars this year.

Media reports have said that Miqati asked Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh to open an account for the transfer of the funds from the budget of the Higher Relief Council, which is under the prime minister’s office. But the HRC president has denied.

Economy and Trade Minister Nicolas Nahhas, who represents Miqati in the cabinet, told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Miqati’s decision “doesn’t defy anyone, and what happened is a victory for all Lebanon.”

“Lebanon escaped foreign pressure and avoided measures that would have affected it,” Nahhas added.

He was referring to alleged Western threats that the U.N. Security Council would impose sanctions on Lebanon if it fails to fund the STL.

For his part, Change and Reform bloc MP Naji Gharios told Free Lebanon radio that the FPM isn’t against the STL “in principle.”

“Aoun was among those who called for its establishment but within the legal restrictions,” he stated.

Another FPM minister, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper that resolving the STL funding dispute “doesn’t mean that the crisis facing the cabinet has been resolved or that the conditions for our return have been attained.”

“If (Miqati) was seeking to preserve stability and safeguard Lebanon, then stability is achieved by implementing productive projects, development and the social stability, while safeguarding Lebanon would be by protecting it from those who are corrupt.”

FPM ministers announced last week that they would continue to boycott cabinet sessions until their demands to approve several development projects were met.