Cabinet meeting set to take place Wednesday with oil, electricity as a priority

After a discussion regarding its occurrence, the caretaker prime minister called for a session of the Council of Ministers to be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

The agenda of the upcoming session consists of 7 items presented by Iraqi fuel in the first item. The controversial file related to the treasury advance to secure gas oil in favor of Electricité du Liban came in the second item of the schedule without adding the two letters from the Ministry of Energy that arrived at the General Secretariat after distributing the schedule, so the Secretariat published them and added them to the agenda.

However, the two books that arrived at the General Secretariat were in the form of two mobile decrees signed by seven ministers, who are the ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement, boycotting the session, which prompted the Secretariat to the Council of Ministers to return the two decrees and request the Minister of Energy to reformulate them in the form of mobile decrees, according to the Prime Minister's circular issued on 5/12/2022.

The General Secretariat made it clear that the minister is not entitled to obtain the signatures of the rest of the ministers on any draft decree.

Minister of Energy Walid Fayyad confirmed that he sent the decrees in the format his ministry adopted, and the cabinet can take the appropriate decision. 

But the problem is not in how the decrees are sent but in how they will be approved by the Council of Ministers, especially since the concerned minister will not be present at the session.

Sources close to the PM said that Fayyad must handle the repercussions of his absence, and the same sources confirmed that the signature of the competent minister is present on the two decrees he has previously sent; thus, the Council of Ministers can issue decrees because it is the final decision-maker.