The Lebanese Cabinet was supposed to hold its upcoming meeting on June 11th; a Thursday, as usual. However, the date of the meeting was unusually pulled back one day. Reportedly, this is related to an upcoming birthday.
Several local newspapers and media sites, including Al-Akhbar, have reported that the Council of Ministers’ meeting that is due in Baabda this week was rescheduled to Wednesday in order to appoint a candidate before he turns too old for the job.
This Thursday, Mohammad Abou Haidar will turn 39. He is the main candidate for the position of Director-General of the Ministry of Economy; a position that the government supposedly intends to fill in this week’s session.
Hence, according to Lebanese laws, Abou Haidar will grow ineligible for the position on that day.
To be the Ministry’s Director-General, a candidate must have no less than 25 years and be able to serve 25 years in that position until the official age of retirement, which is 64. To be eligible as a candidate, Abou Haidar can’t reach his 40 on the day of the nomination.
Therefore, to make sure Abou Haidar does not exceed the legal age before the time of his assignment comes, the government adjusted its schedules accordingly.
In addition to the position of Director-General of the Ministry of Economy, the following vacant administrative roles are expected to be assigned in the upcoming session:
- The four deputies of the Governor of the Banque du Liban.
- Government Commissioner to the Banque du Liban.
- Chairman and members of the Banking Commission Control of Lebanon.
- Chairman and members of the Capital Markets Authority.
- Director-General of Investment at the Ministry of Energy.
- Governor of Beirut.
On that note, Al-Jadeed reported that two additional names have been nominated to be the next Director-General of the Economy Ministry.
However, “the other two names presented are not essentially qualified for this position as they are from the third category, not the second,” the source revealed.
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