PM postpones vote on Trajtenberg recommendations

Netanyahu decides to continue discussion of socioeconomic report next week, after failing to garner enough support to pass measures.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, LAHAV HARKOV
PM Netanyahu with Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg 311 (R) (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
PM Netanyahu with Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg 311 (R)
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday evening decided to postpone the government's vote on recommendations put forward by the Trajtenberg Committee for Socioeconomic Change.
The prime minister came to the decision after failing to convince a majority of government ministers to vote to adopt the recommendations, during hours of discussion on the issue.
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Trajtenberg and fiscal responsibilityNetanyahu ended the government meeting without holding a vote on the matter and decided to continue the discussion of the Trajtenberg Committee recommendations in the next government meeting, scheduled for Sunday of next week.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz insisted that Netanyahu would eventually get a majority of ministers to vote to adopt the recommendations.
Steinitz said in an interview with Channel 2 that the Trajtenberg Committee report provides a solution to Israel's economic problems, the likes of which no previous government has implemented.
The finance minister did not rule out the possibility that there may be slight adjustments to the recommendations in order to get them passed by the government.
The prime minister had said at the start of the cabinet meeting onMonday morning that despite opposition to the Trajtenberg Committeerecommendations, the government would vote on the proposals Monday.
However, already on Monday afternoon, it was becoming clear that the prime minister lacked the votes to pass the recommendations through the cabinet.
Netanyahu called Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is in the Ukraine, in an attempt to convince him to support the measure. Lieberman, however, refused the prime minister's request, Army Radio reported.
Netanyahu was also reportedly inviting a series of ministers for one-on-one meetings in an attempt to convince them to support the Trajtenberg report.
The prime minister told Likud ministers that the session on Monday would encompass only the basic elements of the committee's recommendations. At a later stage, he said, details and individual clauses will be examined, formed into legislation and voted upon, Army Radio reported.
On Sunday Israel Beiteinu objected and announced it had managed to secure a delay to the vote on the recommendations, arguing that ministers need more time to fully review the committee's findings.
Earlier Sunday, Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov asked Netanyahu to postpone Monday's government meeting on the Trajtenberg Committee report.
"In the name of Israel Beiteinu and its five ministers, I am notifying you of our firm opposition to a discussion of the Trajtenberg Committee's recommendations at the coming government meeting," Meseznikov wrote.
The report, released last Monday, lists the findings of a committee headed by Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, who was appointed by Netanyahu to recommend socioeconomic reforms following this summer's protests.