Lebanese Government’s 15-Month Tenure: Political Stability, Economic Failure

Hariri takes a selfie with journalists at the presidential palace near Beirut, Lebanon, on November 3, 2016. Mohamed Azakir / Reuters

The last session of the government led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri will take place next week as its mandate will expire on May 20, more than a year after its formation.
 
Its 15-month tenure was marked by many internal and external events amid diverging views on the cabinet’s performance. Its members emphasize that they have made great achievements, while others see it as nothing more than a failure or a distorted achievement at best.
 
However, it cannot be denied that Hariri’s government, which came as a result of a political settlement and the election of President Michel Aoun, contributed to a large extent to security stability, and brought down the polarization caused by the March 14 and March 8 coalitions.
 
Minister of Economy and Trade Raed Khoury said that the government had made many achievements and launched the process of reform and set the stage for projects that the next government should implement, while the director of the Middle East Institute for Strategic Affairs, Sami Nader, considered the government’s performance as incomplete.
 
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Khoury said that the government has held 70 sessions, which is evidence of its “seriousness”, and detailed what he described as achievements, which included: “The adoption of the Budget Law for 2017 and 2018 for the first time since 2005; the adoption of the parliamentary electoral law, at a time when no previous government dared to take this step, and the implementation of diplomatic and judicial appointments”, in addition to setting the economic plan that should be completed by the next government, and the battle to expel terrorist organizations from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal last August.
 
According to Khoury, consensus between Aoun and Hariri had contributed greatly to facilitating the government’s functions and activating state institutions.
 
Nader, for his part, did not deny that the election of the president and the formation of the government contributed to guarantying security and political stability to a certain extent, but stressed the cabinet’s failure in mainly implementing foreign and economic policies.
 
In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, Nader described the government’s management of the economy as a “terrible failure”.
 
“What they consider as achievements were only incomplete and distorted projects plagued by corruption. Even the ministers themselves were exchanging accusations of corruption,” he stated.
 
In foreign policy, Nader said he believed that the main failure was breaching the dissociation policy, which led to the resignation of Hariri, before being contained through a re-commitment to this policy, pushing Hariri to revoke his decision.