MK David Bitan (Likud) Chairman of the Economy Committee at the debate on the approval of the obligation of license plates for electric tools/Knesset spokespersons
Immediately after the outbreak of the war, food prices began to rise.
Retailers explained the increase in prices by "cancellation of holiday sales", but since that cancellation, prices have been going wild.
At the end of October, the Ministry of Economy published a memorandum of law, according to which anyone who takes advantage of the situation and unfairly raises prices will be fined NIS 138,000.
The memorandum was based on different models in the world that were created due to emergency situations, such as natural disasters, epidemics and war events, which were created because of the fear that some merchants would take advantage of the circumstances to raise prices.
In retrospect, if the law had been passed then, it might have been possible to prevent the economically unjustified and socially immoral price increases, at a time when hundreds of thousands are in the reserves, tens of thousands are being evacuated from their homes and thousands of independent businesses are closing.
And perhaps also the absurd measures of the Ministry of Economy, including the black lists and stickers, which did not alarm anyone.
The person who prevented the advancement of this law, and another, similar law, promoted by MK Orit Farkash from the state camp, was the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich. Why? Up to this moment it is not really clear.
Smotrich did not respond to our repeated inquiries on the matter, after blocking another attempt of Barkat to pass the law, as a government law. Is this, in his view, an intervention in the private market? Like the law restricting importers that he removed from the Arrangements Law, even though its purpose is to deal with monopolies, or does he simply not feel like favoring the Minister of Economy? God has solutions.
Barkat and Smotrich.
The Minister of Finance did not respond to the repeated inquiries as to why he is stalling the passage of the law.
In any case, under his nose and under his wrath, a bypass was quietly paved for him by Smotrich, who should bring the law to a vote in the Knesset as quickly as possible.
Vala learned that the Chairman of the Economic Committee, David Bitan, a member of Barakat, will hold a quick discussion today of the very same law, except that this time Bitan and other members of the Knesset have signed it, and at the end it will be prepared for a preliminary reading.
The chairman of the coalition, Ofir Katz, also joined the effort , joined the initiators of the law and promised that he would be exempted from the duty of discounting, something that would significantly shorten the procedures on the way to its final approval. The approval of the law in the committee leaves Smotrich out of the game. The only objection he could express would be in a vote against him in the Knesset.
Already in the committee's hearings last week, Bitan hinted at What will happen today? He mentioned that he urged the country to freeze prices during the war, but the Ministry of Finance opposed it because of the harm to competition. He then requested that the Ministry of Economy enact a law that would allow fines to be imposed on those who raise prices unreasonably during the war, and the Ministry of Finance opposed this as well, saying that in his opinion it should be Freezing prices of basic products during the war.
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According to Bitan Barkat's bill, during a security, civil, natural disaster or health emergency, there is a need for regulatory intervention aimed at preventing a significant price increase and deviation from the accepted price, while taking advantage of the situation, in order to ensure that the product is accessible to the entire population.
The price of the product will be calculated as the average price in the three months preceding the declaration of the state of emergency.
Those who raise the prices unfairly will be fined three times the usual ceiling.
In the face of the government's lack of hands, in the face of the wave of price increases that does not stop even after the regulatory shaming, a law that will limit the producers and importers during an emergency is the last tool it has in its hands to try and stop the rampage.
But he too will postpone only for a limited period of time the acute need for a systemic and fundamental solution to the dissolution of monopolies and increased competition in the market.
More on the same topic:
Nir Barkat
David Bitan
Bezalel Smotrich
Economic Committee
Prices
War of Iron Swords
Gaza war