Billions beyond budget

Headlines in the Lebanese press over recent weeks have been dominated by the mudslinging between politicians over the controversy surrounding some $22 billion in extra-budgetary spending. However, while the nation’s elected leaders cynically jostle for political points, most of the Lebanese people are left none the wiser as to exactly how the country’s accounts got into such a shameful mess in the first place. The roots of the problem stretch back to the political crisis that crippled the government in 2006, with the ensuing paralysis of Lebanon’s body politic stranding the country without a budget to this day. According to legal attorney and lecturer in constitutional law Wassim Manssouri, the country is left in a state of “continual illegality.” The Lebanese constitution clearly lays out the process for the creation and implementation of the budget. Article 83 specifies that during its October session the parliament must discuss and vote upon