Labor authorizes Peretz to handle budget contacts

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The Labor Faction authorized party Chairman Amir Peretz on Friday to handle all direct contacts with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the 2007 state budget. It was also decided that a discussion panel should be set up, comprised of ministers Isaac Herzog, Eitan Cabel, and Shalom Simhon, and charged with the task of holding mid-level negotiations for the application of the coalition agreement for the new budget. Simhon said on his way out of the meeting that the decision lays the desired foundations for reaching an understanding with the Finance Ministry on the budget issue.