Constitutional Council invalidates 2025 budget articles
The Constitutional Council on Friday annulled several articles of the 2025 state budget after two appeals by MPs, according to al-Markazia, during a session led by Judge Tannous Mechleb in the absence of Vice President Omar Hamzeh for health reasons.
The 2025 budget text had been presented to Parliament by the caretaker government of Najib Mikati while it was handling current affairs at the end of September 2024. Criticized for its excessive use of taxes to fill the Treasury deficit, the text was finalized and enacted by decree by the current Cabinet of Nawaf Salam on March 6. This measure sparked criticism, mainly due to its being rushed by IMF-imposed deadlines on reforms.
Two groups of MPs then decided to present appeals for invalidation, the first on March 26 by Melhem Khalaf, Najat Saliba, Firas Hamdan, Adib Abdel Massih, Bilal Hshaimi, Melhem Tawk, Adnane Trabolsi, Taha Naji, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Tony Frangieh and Paula Yacoubian.
The second was submitted on March 27 by several FPM-aligned MPs, including head of the party Gebran Bassil, Jimmy Jabbour, Ghassan Atallah, Edgard Traboulsi, Nada Boustany, Charbel Maroun, Selim Aoun, Nicolas Sehnawi and Cesar Abi Khalil.
The Constitutional Council invalidated several articles of the 2025 state budget, citing procedural and constitutional violations. These included the failure to seek parliamentary approval, retroactive application from the start of the year despite its adoption in March, and the absence of signatures from all relevant ministers. The Council also noted that the text was not automatically submitted for review as required.
The ruling also pointed to violations of the principle of social equality in taxation and criticized the vague wording of certain provisions. It emphasized that constitutional texts should not contain retroactive clauses, further justifying its decision.
Therefore, the Council decided to accept both appeals and invalidate articles 5, 17, 22, 25, 54 and 56, which are related to the aforementioned causes. This decision was made by the majority of those present, except for two judges. The text of this decision will be published in the next Official Gazette.
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