Introduction to the evening news 05-10-2011

The Lebanese citizens slept to tensions in Arsal and awoke to high-voltage tensions in Mansourieh. These two “tensions” have one thing in common: they are still pending, waiting to be addressed seriously. It is not the first time that Syria infiltrates into the Bekaa town of Arsal, and also not the first time that the issue of high-voltage power comes to surface in Mansourieh. Tackling both these files is constantly being deferred; neither what happened in Arsal nor the protests that swept through Mansourieh can be folded promptly. The one and only question that applies to both files is: How will the government deal with them? On Arsal’s incident, no official comments were made. As to Mansourieh’s issue, the Minister of Energy refrained from commenting, leaving the answer to Electricité du Liban (EDL) and the Council for Development and Reconstruction charged with assigning this project to the contractor.      

These two issues are being discussed by the cabinet on the sidelines of its agenda, at a time when the public budget’s bill is still controversial. In fact, Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi’s suggestion to increase the VAT was met with fierce objection. The only item to be approved with no major discrepancies was the appointment of the former “king minister” as president of the Lebanese University.