Pandora’s Budget

Among the more developed countries of the world it is customary to hold the nation’s constitution as sacrosanct, with governments that violate it swiftly shown the door by way of the ballot. The Lebanese constitution, on the other hand, is more a set of rough guidelines that successive governments have invoked when it suited their purposes, ignoring the tedious elements, such as those that deal with drafting the national budget.  Articles 81 to 86 of the constitution specifically lay out the process for Lebanon’s government to pass a budget. Accordingly, the budget for any year should be proposed by the Council of Ministers, Lebanon’s cabinet, during the second regular session of parliament in October of the preceding year. Negotiations can then be extended until January, at which point, if no agreement is reached, “the Council of Ministers may take a decision, on the basis of which a decree is issued