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This is proof that this is not what politicians want

What are politicians looking for - respect, power and money?

Avichai Snir believes that if they are willing to give up the obligation to transfer a budget, it seems that power to influence is not really interesting to them.

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• State budget

• Governance

Avichai Snir

Friday, 14 May 2021, 00:12

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Government meeting (Photo: Government Press Office, Haim Tzach)

In the last week I have encountered a dilemma. On the one hand, I want a government to be formed. But this week I started to think that on the other hand, maybe it's better to give it up, at least for now. My hesitations began when I was driving for pleasure in a traffic jam, and I suddenly heard on the radio that as part of the contacts to form a new government, the possibility of changing the legislation so that a government could continue to function even if it did not pass a budget was being considered.

If I were not a calm person, I would probably have started cursing the radio, and maybe at the same time crushing the tin of the car in front of me. Maybe because I turned red, for a moment I did not understand what was going through our politicians' minds. After all, what did MK Mickey Zohar say? Everyone wants power, money, or respect, and that he, as a politician, wants power.

So assuming politicians want power, there is nothing that gives power more than a budget.

Basically, all the power of the government comes from its control over the budget.

The budget is the government's way of realizing its platform.

Take the budget from the government, and it has no ability to do anything.

It can not advance any goal.

Nor can it stop promoting plans left over from the previous government - as long as the budget does not pass, whatever it was will remain.

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This is also why the law states that the government falls as soon as there is no budget.

Those who enacted this law, lived in an age where they thought that the role of government is to control, and therefore a government that fails to pass a budget has to pass from the world.

To this day, this law has worked quite well, saving us from some governments that have lost the ability to function.

Think what would have happened if the existence of the government had not depended on the budget.

The Netanyahu-Gantz government, for example, could continue to function for four years, even though members of the government could not even agree on which issue to bring to the meeting, and the appointment of a temporary justice minister required the intervention of the High Court.

If not influence - then what?

So now you will understand why I was confused for a moment when I heard that potential ministers are interested in separating the government from the budget. Because if ministers are willing to live in a government without a budget, it means they want to be in a government that has no ability to control. That is, a government with almost no power, and no respect at all.

But then I got a little less red, and I remembered that government membership gives another bonus besides power and respect: the right to share jobs. When you are a member of the government, you can promote people to positions in government ministries and government companies. Just last week, I got to meet someone appointed as a director in two government companies, although I'm pretty sure there are some people in Israel who are more talented than him for the job. When I asked him about the appointment, he was not ashamed to explain to me that it was thanks to his Likud members. So apparently the people who have been in the opposition so far also have friends. But with all due respect to their friends, it is better not to have a government, than to have a government that declares in advance that it is not trying to control, but only to distribute jobs.

Dr. Avichai Snir - Netanya Academic College and Bar-Ilan University

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