Kataeb leader's legal adviser, Lara Saade, on Thursday pointed out that the party's objection to the electricity plan is based on two main reasons, citing the failure to appoint a regulatory body that would manage the power sector and the dismissal of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) Law.

Saade told Al-Markazia news agency that the formation of a regulatory body is one of the conditions set by donor countries at the CEDRE conference, noting that French envoy, Pierre Dukan, demanded the Lebanese government to approve a new budget and appoint said body by the end of April.

“They do not want to establish a regulatory body to in order to grant the Energy Ministry full power over the electricity sector and allow it to evade accountability,” she stressed.

Regarding the PPP law, Saade criticized both the government and the Parliament for turning a blind eye to the fact that the plan deals with said legislation as inexistent although it was passed by the legislature in 2017.

Saade warned that the Parliament has created a "dangerous legal vacuum" by failing to set out the plan within a transparent legal framework, by basing it on either the public accountability law or the Public-Private Partnership Law.

“Things are left under the full and exclusive control of the Energy Ministry,” Saade deplored.

“That means that the government has opted for absolute and uncontrolled evasion of standards and regulations instead of tightening reforms and auditing," she concluded.