Economy Minister Nir Barkat whispers in the prime minister's ear.
Will Netanyahu support the last remaining vestige of the promise to fight the cost of living? (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)
Yesterday, the "Ministerial Committee for Legislation Amendments", chaired by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who coordinated the coalition agreements and Amon on the coalition demands of the parties, convened for a discussion in preparation for the approval of the budget in the Knesset on March 23.
However, what was supposed to be a routine discussion, after the approval of the budget in the government, turned into a heated debate between the Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, and the finance representatives.
Barkat was furious at the decision to remove from the Settlements Law the "importers' law" which he promoted, without his knowledge, - and demanded that it be immediately returned there.
Treasury representatives, for their part, explained that the budget is closed and there is nothing to be done about it.
These things did not put Barkat's mind at ease, who insisted and said that until the Knesset approves nothing is closed, and clarified that if the "importers' law" is not included in the current budget, he will submit it as a government bill, which will require coalition discipline.
The meaning of the Minister of Economy's threat is clear: Barkat will be able to force the introduction of the law in primary legislation, if it does not come up for discussion in the plenary within the framework of the Settlements Law.
"The Importers Law": will oblige the major importers to give up part of their grip on the market (Photo: ShutterStock)
The "Importers' Law" is the only reform of the Settlements Law that was supposed to address the main election promise of the Likud and some of its coalition partners - lowering the cost of living.
As part of the law, the major importers were supposed to choose one large and one medium brand and give up the rest, in order to open the market to competition between different importers.
Barkat, who promoted him, wanted to apply these restrictions to the large producers in the food market as well, but due to time constraints and the opposition of the budget department, he had to give up and be content with limiting the power of the large importers who dominate the market and apparently block competitors.
As first published in "Walla", it was only during the government meeting to approve the budget that it became clear to him that the law had been removed from the Settlements Law, without anyone bothering to inform him, and thus, the budget was left without a central tool to deal with the cost of living, an issue that is at the top of the economy minister's list of priorities.
After the exchange, it was decided to convene another discussion of the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Amendments on Tuesday next week and to find a way to return the "importers' law" to the budget.
Of money
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Cost of living
Benjamin Netanyahu
Arrangements Law
Nir Barkat
Minister of Economy
