A parliamentary committee has rejected the briefing Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri made before the People’s Assembly in February, with 43 committee members opposing his statements and three supporting the PM.

The special committee was formed to gather lawmakers' opinions on the speech, and reported that all 19 standing parliamentary committees rejected it, along with the 21 political parties that are represented in Parliament.

The committee said Ganzouri’s briefing did not respond to Parliament’s recommendations for addressing the country’s problems, nor did it meet the aspirations of the people.

It added that what Ganzouri called “Building a Democratic System” was too broad to address the real challenges of the democratic transition, devoid of a clear vision for purging and restructuring government institutions, especially the Interior Ministry, and did not properly address the issues of martyrs or the fight against corruption.

The prime minister did not provide a plan to achieve social justice or reduce poverty, nor did he identify sources to fund a minimum wage increase to LE1,200 per month, the committee said. It went on to say that Ganzouri did not address a progressive tax system, unemployment, health care or bread production issues.

The committee accused the government of not being serious about solving economic problems and relying on borrowing from international institutions without resorting to dozens of potential alternative methods, and of failing to provide a vision for a monetary policy regarding foreign reserves.

The committee added that the government has jeopardized Egypt's relations with other Arab countries, and said Ganzouri’s statement did not mention anything about relations with Islamic countries.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm