Far from all the commitments he made, particularly to Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi, it seems that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will begin the new year with another government crisis that leads to increased tension. Informed sources revealed to "Al-Akhbar" that Mikati, in agreement with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, intends to call for a government session at the beginning of 2023, with an agenda that includes preparing a draft law to "extend the terms of security and military leaders" to be submitted to the Parliament for a vote. While the fate of the session depends on the positions of the political forces that participated in the session on the fifth of this month, the mere intention to hold the session itself represents a "desire" to challenge the Free Patriotic Movement, and will undoubtedly lead to a wider confrontation than what was witnessed in the last session, given the impossibility of reaching consensus on the operational mechanism of the government that Christian forces, primarily the Movement, reject, fearing that it will inherit the powers of the President of the Republic, which encapsulates the contentious issue with the Prime Minister.
Signs of a new governmental confrontation began to appear with Mikati signing, yesterday, a draft decree aimed at providing social assistance to active and retired military personnel. Mikati requested in a letter addressed to the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers "to carry out the necessary amendments to the draft decree signed by Defense Minister Maurice Slim for issuance in accordance with constitutional procedures, specifically in the format previously sent to the Minister of National Defense after completing his signatures duly," claiming that it was agreed upon in a previous meeting at the governmental palace. The letter stated that "the Minister of Defense, after waiting for more than two weeks, returned on 21-12-2022 the draft decree signed by him, but he made some amendments related to the paragraphs, adding a justification that is inconsistent with the truth and reality concerning a request made by the Ministers of National Defense and Interior and Municipalities, despite the absence of this request in the file. He also omitted the justification related to the decision of the Council of Ministers and its approval, in addition to an amendment in the signatures section, where he included the names of all government members contrary to constitutional regulations that require only the signatures of the concerned ministers, specifically the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, the Minister of National Defense, and the Minister of Finance, after which it should be issued duly, that is, after being signed by the Prime Minister twice."
Subsequently, Decree No. 10958 was issued by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which grants additional social assistance to military personnel in active service and retirees, bearing the signatures of Mikati and the Ministers of Interior and Municipalities, National Defense, and Finance. It is noteworthy that the Free Patriotic Movement questions the legality of the decrees signed by the Prime Minister twice, on behalf of himself and the President of the Republic, and targets the reliance on the signatures of all ministers on the decrees, which will reignite contention regarding the operational mechanism of the government and the format for issuing decrees.
