Charbel Nahas
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Charbel Nahas (; born 16 August 1954) is a Lebanese politician, economist and engineer who is the General Secretary of Citizens in a State, a political party that was established in 2016 and that has as its goal to create "a civil, democratic, fair and capable state". He is widely considered to be a Lebanese progressive whose priority has been to improve living conditions for the country's disenfranchised poor. Nahas served as labour minister in
Najib Mikati Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He previously served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and i ...
's second government as one of eleven Change and Reform ministers, led by Michel Aoun. He resigned on 22 February 2012, arguing that all of his colleagues in government were preventing any effective improvement in workers' rights.


Early life and education

Charbel Nahas was born in Beirut on 16 August 1954 into a Melkite Christian family. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris in 1976, and from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, also in Paris, in 1978. He also received a PhD in
social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
in 1980.


Professional career


Academic career

Nahas was a professor at the
Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU; ) is the only state-funded public university in Lebanon. It was established in 1951. The university's main campus was originally located in Beirut, but a few satellite campuses were opened due to travel restriction ...
for 12 years, where he headed the
Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
Department. Nahas has also served as Distinguished Practitioner of Public Policy-in Residence at the
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
. Much of his work has centred around Lebanon's
macroeconomic Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/ GDP ...
situation, in particular its
sovereign debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occ ...
, which Nahas has maintained is unsustainable. He is also the author of ''A Socioeconomic Programme for Lebanon'', which was published by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies in March 2006.


Other

Nahas is a leading
social anthropologist Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...
and the author of many publications and studies on the Lebanese economy. He has acted as an expert for a number of Lebanese state institutions, as well as many international organisations, including the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Nahas was in charge of the reconstruction of Beirut Central District from 1982 to 1986. Nahas has contributed to development in areas including policy formation and
public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...
in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
,
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
and
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
, amongst others.


Political career


Minister of Telecommunications

In November 2009, Nahas was appointed minister of telecommunications in the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
headed by
Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese people, Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. The son of Rafic Hariri, he ...
. Several commentators at the time hailed Nahas' appointment as a victory for Lebanese progressives. Sources indicated that one of the factors that led the FPM to nominate Nahas was to participate in ongoing discussions in relation to the annual
state budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...
and the
national debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occ ...
, which are priority issues for the FPM. In 2006, Nahas wrote that " though most of the rest of the world has moved on from the attitude that had been prevalent in the 1990s, according to which privatisation was the solution to all problems relating to public finance, Lebanon still adheres to that old mentality, either as a result of intellectual laziness or opportunism. ..What we need in Lebanon is a 'better state', and not a 'lesser state'." Subsequent reports indicate that Nahas supports the part-privatization of the telecom sector to a consortium of companies while ensuring that the government and the Lebanese public retains a stake. On 11 December 2009, Nahas announced that his ministry plans to create facilities to provide at least 90% of regions in Lebanon with broadband internet access. In November 2009, Nahas was appointed to the committee responsible for drafting the new government's policy statement. In the committee's first meeting, he called for Lebanon's economic system to be reformed, saying that "it is outdated. The Taef Agreement did not meet the requirements needed." During the summer of 2010, Nahas raised a number of objections in cabinet meetings to the draft budget law that was proposed by
Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...
Raya Haffar al-Hassan. In particular, he objected to what he described as the proposed law's failure to address Lebanon's basic economic difficulties (which manifested themselves in the form of high unemployment and emigration) at a time of relatively favorable circumstances (including a spectacular increase in capital in-flows since 2008). Nahas proposed a number of changes to the draft budget law that would reduce the burdens on employment and on income, as well as increased investment in a modern public transport system in Lebanon. He has also insisted on a number of methodological changes, including the elimination of all off-balance sheet expenses. The draft budget law was eventually approved by the Cabinet, including by Nahas, on 19 June 2010. Nahas subsequently led efforts to investigate and dismantle an alleged Israeli espionage operation which had infiltrated the Lebanese telecommunications network.
Ashraf Rifi Ashraf Rifi (; also spelled Achraf Rifi) (born 1 April 1954) is a Lebanese politician and former police chief. He was the general director of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF; the national police) from 2005 to 2013 and served as mini ...
, then a general in the Internal Security Forces, prevented Nahas from accessing the facility. Rifi ignored then Minister of Interior Ziad Baroud instructions to allow Nahas to access the facility, prompting Baroud to resign. As minister of telecommunications, Nahas set as one of his goals to modernise the Lebanese telecom sector, which at the time was ranked as amongst the least competitive and the least developed in the world. During Nahas' tenure, a number of measures to reduce the cost of mobile phones for less advantaged citizens were introduced. Amongst other things, the cost of purchasing a prepaid mobile phone line was reduced from $100 to $25, a
collect call A collect call in Canada and the United States, known as a reverse charge call in other parts of the English-speaking world, is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense. Collect calls were or ...
mechanism was introduced, as was a "family and friends" measure, which reduced prices for prepaid cellphone subscribers.


Minister of Labour

In June 2011, Nahas was appointed Lebanese minister of labour in the second government headed by
Najib Mikati Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He previously served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and i ...
. Miqati is rumored to have vetoed Nahas' reappointment as Minister of Telecommunications. In his new position, Nahas focused on improving the rights of foreign domestic workers, on increasing the
minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...
in Lebanon and on granting health care to all Lebanese citizens. He argued that such measures are necessary to achieve greater
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
in Lebanon. Nahas put together a reform package during the fall of 2011, which had as its objective to ensure periodic adjustment of wages, in accordance with the legislation that is already in force, to redistribute revenue from rentier to productive services (by increasing taxes on real estate transactions), and to reinvigorate the role of the unions. Nahas' proposal included creating the basis for universal health care in Lebanon. That package was rejected by the Council of Ministries, a majority of which voted in favor of a plan put forward by Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Determined to see his plan come to fruition, Nahas referred the government's decision to the Lebanese Shoura Council, an administrative court, with a view to examining the decision's legality. The Council found in October 2011 that the government's decision was illegal given that it was not based on existing legislation. In December 2011, Nahas put forth his proposal to the Council of Ministries again, but Mikati once again put forth a proposal of his own. Even though Nahas won the vote this time, the Shoura Council rejected his proposal as it did Mikati's earlier proposal, on the grounds that as a Labour minister Nahas had no legal right to add transportation expenses to the minimum wage. Lebanon's General Labour Confederation threatened to organise its largest strike in history in reaction to the government's decision. In January 2012, the Council of Ministries approved two separate decrees relating to wage increases, over Nahas' objections. The first provided for a modest increase in the actual minimum wage, and the second reconfirmed the transportation allowance. Nahas refused to sign the second decree on the basis that it was in violation of the law and amounted to theft of workers' pension rights. In response, Prime Minister Mikati announced that he would refrain from calling the Council of Ministries into session until the second decree was signed. After significant pressure, including from his own political bloc, to sign the decree, Nahas opted to resign on 21 February 2012 rather than sign the decree. On 24 February 2012, Salim Jreissati, another nomination by Aoun, replaced him as labor minister.


Citizens in a State

In 2016, Nahas led the establishment of Citizens in a State, a new political party which has as its objective to establish a civil, non-sectarian state in Lebanon. He is currently its Secretary General. Since the 2019 popular uprising, Nahas and Citizens in a State have been leading organised political action against Lebanon's current ruling elite. Nahas and his party has been criticised for allegedly being pro-
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
.


MP candidacy

In the 2018 Lebanese general election, Nahas ran for the catholic seat in Mount Lebanon II - Metn district but lost to the FPM candidate Edy Maalouf. In the 2022 Lebanese general election, Nahas ran for the catholic seat in Beirut I - Achrafieh but lost to the FPM candidate Nicolas Sehnaoui.


Selected bibliography

* * * * * Nahas, Charbel (2020).
An Economy and a State for Lebanon
'' Beirut, Lebanon:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nahas, Charbel Living people 1954 births École Polytechnique alumni École des Ponts ParisTech alumni Academic staff of Lebanese University Lebanese economists Lebanese civil engineers Lebanese Melkite Greek Catholics Labour ministers of Lebanon Communications ministers of Lebanon Lebanese social democrats