Prime Minister Saad Hariri chaired today's cabinet meeting at the Grand Serail with 67 items on its agenda.

Hariri began by saying: "This session is the last of this year. I hope that it will be fruitful, to emphasize our role in restoring confidence. It is true that the government faced many challenges during the year and experienced political, social and economic crises, but this does not negate that the government was able to do great achievements, the last being the decrees for the oil sector.

The adoption of the electoral law, the diplomatic, administrative and judicial appointments, the salaries scale, the renewal of the work of the Economic and Social Council, the army's victories on terrorism and protecting the country from the fires of the region: I am very proud to have worked with a Council of Ministers that put itself at the service of Lebanon and the Lebanese, and took a historical decision to disassociate from the problems of the region.
With the beginning of the year we must have a new start. On this occasion, on behalf of the Council of Ministers, I would like to congratulate all Lebanese on Christmas and New Year, and I hope that the government’s solidarity will form the basis for the protection of stability and the continuation of production."

He added: "We lived years of divisions and had failed experiences for the country that led to the failure of many projects. But the consensus that we reached between all parties led to the completion of many issues that could not have been achieved in an atmosphere of division."

He continued: "The government has a great national duty to fulfil, which is to hold parliamentary elections on the basis of the new proportional law. As everyone knows, the law was completed after a long debate that lasted years, and as a result of an agreement between all components of government and therefore between most political forces in Lebanon.

I emphasize that in the election issue, there is no turning back. The elections will be held on the dates set by the Interior Ministry. We have a serious bet that it will be opportunity for a transparent electoral process that will move the country to a new democratic path.

We have an agenda today, which includes items related to the waste crisis. These items may not constitute final solutions to the crisis, but they prevent the country, especially the capital and the suburbs, from entering into a new waste crisis. We, as government, must take bold decisions. Some think that they are difficult decisions, but we must take them and implement them. In this regard, we must have a specific goal, which is to close the door to the renewal of the waste crisis, but this does not absolve us from developing a plan to solve the waste crisis in all regions, from Akkar and Tripoli to Naqoura and Hasbani. I hope to close this file and discuss the needed legal procedures."

Finally, Hariri spoke about the strike followed by some public institutions and said: "Regarding the strikes announced by some sectors, I clearly tell everybody that as a government we will not increase one pound on the salaries scale. We developed the scale to increase salaries and improve the standard of living of employees. The cost of the scale is estimated at 1200 billion, but practically reached 1800 billion and we cannot increase a penny on the draft budget for 2018 because we are taking loans to pay the salaries. I call on everyone in the government to take a unified position on the subject of strikes because we did not underestimate anyone’s right

Source: NNA