President of the Change and Reform block, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, held a special meeting on Saturday morning, 18th of March, to discuss several important points. In a live press conference, “Free Patriotic Movement” head, Gebran Bassil said the following:
-We thank the Lebanese people for their vitality and alertness and we ask them not to be misled by rumors.
-The list distributed on social networking sites is not totally correct. We rely on the people in our fight, if we lose their trust, we lose everything.
-Even if we are in power, we are not part of the political system and we are not adapting to corruption, waste and such practices.
-The Head of the Finance and Budget Committee has shown us all the meetings since 2014 and everyone has agreed on what they have opposed today.
-It is impossible to make adjustments at the expense of the people. Corruption is a cumulative record that began when the reform bloc was in power and continues with this new era.
-The salary scale is demanded by large categories of the Public sector.
– 80% of the taxes will be imposed only on the well-off class, while the rest 20% are imposed on all the social classes.
-They proposed a VAT of 15% and we do not accept anything but 11%.
-We will not allow anybody to mess with our accomplishments.
-None have previously dared to discuss the subject of beachfront properties, nor the banks or the corporations concerning the taxes and today this subject is being evaluated; and we have succeeded in imposing taxes on some of these sectors; (real estate gains, maritime properties, banks and big companies.)
-We have informed the newly assigned people of the customs that we must see a quality improvement in the income within a year, otherwise they will be layoffs.
-For the first time in years, we have successfully completed the files of the casino and the free market, and they have been forwarded by the Minister of Justice to the public prosecutors to begin the legal action.
-After a long absence, we appointed a good judge at the head of the Central Inspectorate and we opened the debate on the required change in the surveillance security departments.
-We are the target of a great campaign because of the electoral law, which is also one of the reasons for this negative campaign.
-Our position on the electoral law is the same … No to the extension, No to the law of sixty.
Translated by Hala Hayek
