Judge Jean Tannous confirmed that the Prime Minister does not have, in accordance with the Constitution and the bylaws of the House of Representatives, the authority to prevent the Minister of Defense or any other minister from attending the sessions of the House of Representatives or exercising his right to speak before the House, explaining that managing the session and giving or preventing speech are within the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Tannous wrote on the “X” platform: “The Prime Minister, according to the Constitution and the internal regulations of the House of Representatives, does not have the authority to prevent the Minister of Defense or any other minister from attending the sessions of the House of Representatives or from exercising his right to speak before it.”
He explained that the reason is that “the minister exercises his constitutional powers and is individually responsible towards the Council in accordance with Articles 66 and 67 of the Constitution.”
Tannous also relied on the provisions of the bylaws of the House of Representatives, noting that Article 124 allows a question to be directed to a minister individually, while Article 131 allows a minister to be questioned independently of the government.
He added that Article 138 of the bylaws allows each minister to cast a vote of confidence in himself individually, and also allows every representative to request a vote of confidence in a minister.
On the other hand, Tannous stressed that the authority to manage the session of the House of Representatives does not belong to the Prime Minister, saying: “As for managing the session and giving or preventing speech, it is within the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in accordance with the same internal regulations.”
Tannous’s position comes in the wake of the problem witnessed by the legislative session in the House of Representatives against the backdrop of the issue of giving Defense Minister Michel Manasseh the right to speak before the general assembly.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on the sidelines of the session, in an attempt to address the dispute that emerged regarding the Defense Minister’s speech.
According to information from “Lebanon Debate,” Berri tried for about half an hour to convince Salam to allow the Minister of Defense to give a speech, but he did not succeed, which moved the dispute from an issue related to the proceedings of the session to a discussion about the limits of the constitutional powers of the Prime Minister, the Ministers, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Tannous’s position comes to present a legal and constitutional approach to the issue, which is based on separating the individual responsibility of the minister before the House of Representatives on the one hand, and the authority to manage the session and determine speech within it on the other hand.
Article 66 of the Constitution stipulates that ministers are responsible for managing the interests of the state and are entrusted with implementing regulations and laws regarding matters related to their administration, while Article 67 addresses ministers’ attendance at Parliament sessions and their right to be heard when they request to speak.
Thus, Tannous places the issue of giving the minister the say, according to his reading, within the direct relationship between the minister and the House of Representatives, with the management of the session limited to the Speaker of the House, and not to the Prime Minister.
