Kadima calls for 2012 budget to be canceled

Livni: "Cosmetic budgetary changes are not enough, new budget should “provide a response to economic and social crises in Israel."

By LAHAV HARKOV
Livni Doctors311 (photo credit: Yaniv Sasson/ Kadima spokesperson)
Livni Doctors311
(photo credit: Yaniv Sasson/ Kadima spokesperson)
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni and her Kadima faction chairwoman Dalia Itzik proposed a bill on Sunday that would cancel the 2012 state budget.
The measure calls for a budget that would be “different at its core, with new national priorities.”
“Today it is clear to everyone that cosmetic budgetary changes are not enough,” Livni said. “A new budget for 2012 must be prepared that will include significant changes in goals according to new priorities.”
That budget should “provide a response to the economic and social crises in Israel,” the Kadima leader said.
In December 2010, the Knesset approved a two-year budget for the years 2011 (NIS 247 billion) and 2012 (NIS 259b.), instead of the usual annual budget.
A Kadima spokesman said that “the Netanyahu government’s two-year budget had a twisted wrong order of priorities, which led Israel to descend into the greatest socioeconomic rift in its history.
“Since last year’s budget is for 2012 as well, these mistaken priorities are expected to continue,” he said.
Coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said that “Livni continues to shoot in every direction, hoping that someone will take her seriously.
“It’s embarrassing for an opposition leader to behave this way,” he said.
“When Livni realized that no one was paying attention to her populist suggestion to shorten the [Knesset] recess, she came up with a new, bizarre proposal that will only make the market unstable,” Elkin quipped.
On Saturday night, Livni echoed Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s demands for a shorter Knesset recess to help resolve the housing crisis and other major socioeconomic issues.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin announced that the matter would be brought to a vote in a weekly meeting with his deputies, and should it pass, it will be brought to the full Knesset.
Rivlin met with Elkin and Knesset House Committee chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) on Sunday to discuss possible compromises, which they suggested to Yishai in a telephone conversation. One idea was to have plenum discussions and votes once a week. However, no agreement with Yishai was reached, Rivlin's spokesman said.
Yishai, however, was inflexible, the source said.
Yishai’s spokesman denied that any compromises were offered.