Al-Bilad program discussed Monday whether the House of Representatives will approve the general budget or not and what is the fate of the dialogue forum after the failure of Geneva, in addition to questions about whether or not the mission will fail to manage the Libyan file.
Q&A or Budget Meeting
The member of the House of Representatives, BoubaKer Efhima, explained: “What was approved in the last session regarding calling the government for accountability and not for a hearing. Today, we were surprised at the beginning of the session that it was decided to be a hearing for what the government has done during the last period, and this caused a kind of confusion, and therefore the discussion of budget was postponed.”
Will the general budget pass Tuesday through the House of Representatives? Efhima said: “The government insists on not providing the details required of it regarding the budget items and specifying Chapter Three, but on the other hand, we noticed that the national unity government is trying to create public opinion that pressures the parliament by declaring that services are dependent on granting the budget.”
According to the HoR member, the House of Representatives will either try again to pressure the government to present Chapter Three, classified and thus approved by the House of Representatives, or we will go to adopt the general budget under the pressure of the public.
Elections are not a magical solution
The member of the Civil Democratic bloc, Atef Al-Hassi, says: “This government was not elected, but came on the heels of a political settlement mediated by the United Nations and an international desire; therefore, everything that this government and its counterpart, the House of Representatives do; will be politicized in one way or another.
“If we assume that this session is to adopt the budget law and give the green light to government spending according to the usual five chapters in the Libyan budget, and the House of Representatives focused on spending, it will be on the first and basic item, which is the salary item, and the addition of Law No. (4), which is increasing the salaries of the education sector, and the matter increased. The complexity that these salaries constitute more than 55% to 60% of the country’s GDP, to be sure; things are complicated with regard to the budget, in addition to the political complexity, and the budget will remain complicated until a political settlement from within the Libyan parties.”
On the other hand, Al-Hassi continues: “There are three groups within the House of Representatives that have arguments on the issue of granting the budget, a group that studied the numbers and knew very well that the Libyan economy does not tolerate these decisions such as the emergency clause, and the other part of the House of Representatives deals with the budget from a point of view that is somewhat political and they know very well that this government came based on an international desire, while the third group, and it is correct to call it an “interest bloc.”
Regarding the question of the “Al-Bilad” program: What is the future of the political dialogue forum, and will the UN mission resort to dissolving the dialogue forum? He said: “The dialogue forum went through a very big crisis, and in the last meeting in Geneva; we noticed the chaos of administration and will, as the UN mission was not strict in its management of the forum and adherence to parliamentary and presidential elections next December.”
Al-Hassi believes that the future of the dialogue forum will be in the hands of the Security Council, pointing out: “The days of Envoy Jan Kubis are almost over.”
Al-Hassi believes that the voices obstructing the upcoming December 24 elections have become very loud, militia leaders will not be satisfied with this date, the leaders of political Islamist groups are also unwilling to enter the electoral process, and the regional leaders share their opinion.
Will there be international sanctions against the obstructionists? He says: “In the beginning, we are used to the issue of waving sanctions, and therefore we will not achieve tangible results unless there are clear and explicit sanctions by the Security Council against these groups.
Al-Hassi stressed that elections are not the solution to the Libyan crisis, but rather a means for the peaceful exchange of power, and access to election outcomes is the basis.
