Lapid at Finance C'tee meeting 370.
(photo credit: Knesset)
Finance Minister Yair Lapid unveiled a plan to eliminate political appointments
in favor of professional appointments and government-run companies’ boards of
directors.
“Stopping political appointments and jobs will bring the old
politics of corruption in government to an end,” Lapid said. “Establishing
elected directors will allow us to build professional, well-managed, profitable
government companies that will provide added value to the Israeli public and put
profit in their pockets and the pockets of the state, simply because they are
managed better and will be more professional.”
Starting next week, the
process of searching for candidates will begin. They will be examined, filtered
according to professional criteria, and whittled down into a database with equal
representation between men and women, and 10 percent minority candidates. Those
who make it through the process will be eligible to join boards of
directors.
According to the Finance Ministry, Israel’s government- run
companies, which include Israel Railways, the Israel Electric Corporation, the
postal service and the Israel Port Authority, are less profitable than those of
other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-member countries.
Norway, for example, squeezes five-anda- half times the profit out of its
government-run companies.
Boards will ideally have a mix of managers,
academics, area-specific experts, finance people and people with government
experience.
The government runs over 100 companies comprising assets of
NIS 183 billion and employing 60,000 people.
Of the 900 board slots, 500
are unfilled.
Ori Yogev, who directs the Government Companies Authority,
said the agency would take on a more professional role, not simply a regulatory
one, bringing it more in line with OECD standards.
“This move is one of
the central challenges I set for myself as part of my return to public life,”
Yogev said.
“The goal is to create good, efficient and more profitable
companies. Today, this is the first step in realizing that vision.”