Berri deems wage scale right to its recipients

House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday voiced commitment to the long awaited salary scale, saying that "the wage scale is a right ... which the Parliament has granted to citizens."

"It is necessary to secure the funding of the salary scale in order to create a balance between revenues and expenditures," Speaker Berri said during a chat with accredited media representatives to Msaileh.

Berri considered what happened as an infringement on the Parliament, an encroachment upon the Speaker's prerogatives, and a violation of the Taif Agreement.

The Speaker defied the statement which proclaimed that the Parliament does not have the right to legislate taxes outside the framework of the state budget, bringing to attention that the Parliament has earlier approved in its recent session the petroleum tax law.

Berri stressed that the salary scale should be paid to its recipients.

In reply to a question about communication with Syria, the Speaker deemed coordination between the two countries as "necessary and falls in Lebanon's interest", particularly in terms of agricultural exports and the Syrian refugees' crisis.

Berri urged all parties to remain vigilant in the face of any attempt to tamper with the internal security and stability.

On another level, Berri received the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, Ambassador William Swing, with whom he discussed cooperation between Lebanon and IOM.

He met with Uruguayan ambassador to Lebanon, Marta Ines Pizzanelli, with talks reportedly touching on means of bolstering the bilateral ties

Source: AFP