By Abdullah Alkabir, political writer and commentator
After the Central Bank crisis, what is the possible role of the Presidential Council?
Is the Central Bank crisis over? It seems so, because an agreement was reached under the auspices of the acting Head of the United Nations Mission in Libya, Stephanie Koury, and was signed by the representatives of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, after agreeing on the new governor and his deputy.
The Presidential Council succeeded in achieving a long-awaited change, or more precisely, succeeded in pushing the two houses to activate a task that is part of their responsibilities, which is to select and assign competent and capable figures to sovereign positions according to the political agreement.
It is certain that the agreement was first reached between the active parties in the shadows, while it appears in the picture that it was an agreement reached between the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, because the selection mechanism, as stipulated in the political agreement, requires a selection among several figures nominated for the sovereign position, and therefore the role of the two houses did not go beyond approving who was chosen among the real negotiators away from the media cameras.
The Presidential Council’s adventure into the political arena was strong, surprising and firm. It did not back down from its position of dismissing the former governor of the central bank, despite all the pressures such as the oil shutdown by Haftar’s gangs, the intensive media campaigns, the former governor’s incitement of banks and international financial institutions to stop dealing with the Central Bank, and the decline in the value of the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies to frightening levels.
Rather, the Presidential Council’s representative to the negotiations to choose the new governor went on to raise the ceiling of demands, to the point of demanding that the House of Representatives adhere to all constitutional and legal procedures in the session to ratify the agreement.
With the continuation of the crisis of the High Council of State, and its sharp division over its recent presidential elections, and Khaled Al-Mishri’s rejection of the ruling of the Southern Tripoli Court invalidating the election session, the way seems paved for the Presidential Council to assume the position of the High Council of State, and become the political party representing a broad political, military and social spectrum in the western region.
The failure of the High Council of State to resolve the conflict over its presidency between Mohamed Takala and Khaled Al-Mishri will prevent the Council from performing its usual role in various disputed files, as it is a partner of the House of Representatives in managing the political process during the transitional phase, even with the recognition of Agila Saleh, Speaker of the House of Representatives, of Khaled Al-Mishri’s presidency of the Council, the High Council of State cannot exercise its role and gain recognition for its decisions and positions, as the UN mission did not communicate with either of the “presidents” in the crisis and negotiations on the Central Bank, and invited the head of the Finance Committee and considered him the representative of the High Council of State in the face of the representative chosen by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Presidential Council's success in changing the governor of the Central Bank, and emphasizing the assignment of an effective board of directors, not just a decoration, will restore the bank's balanced role in managing financial and monetary affairs, and may push the Presidential Council to take bolder steps to address the political deadlock.
Musa Al-Koni, a member of the Council, spoke clearly in an interview broadcast on state television, about the procedures for declaring a state of emergency to save the state if it is threatened by the risks of collapse, so the sovereign authority intervenes to exercise exceptional tasks, withdraws powers from governments and all bodies, and transfers them to the army if it is capable and unified to save the state.
Even if the Presidential Council hesitates to take any step in this direction, it is certain that all political parties will take into consideration the new positioning of the Presidential Council, and this alone will push them to work seriously on all pending files, especially the constitutional track and elections.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer