Parliament to Meet Wednesday to Discuss Draft Laws

Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday invited lawmakers for a parliamentary session on August 10 to continue discussions on the remaining draft laws on its agenda.

Parliament met on Wednesday and Thursday, approving 31 laws, including the delineation of Lebanon’s maritime borders that paves way for the exploration of oil and natural gas in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

But parliament did not pass a draft law which would have reduced each year of a jail sentence to nine months, drawing condemnations from the families of prisoners.

March 14 leadership sources told An Nahar daily that the opposition proved in the last parliamentary sessions that it excels in its political initiatives while the majority seemed in discord over the details of the prison sentence draft law.

“The opposition will continue to prevent the collapse of the official stance in favor of the control of Hizbullah’s arms and the Syrian regime’s rude interference in local Lebanese affairs,” the opposition sources said.