Katz vows two budgets are coming – can he do it?

Finance Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the 2020 budget can be approved on December 23, and that to achieve the goal of presenting the government with a budget for next year, he held a meeting with acting budget director Yogev Gardos and the ministry’s attorney-general Asi Masing.The 2021 budget “will give an answer to the need to face the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak, as well as the need to get the economy marching again,” Katz said.However, such a timetable is extremely unlikely, considering that Basic Law: The Economy instructs the government to present the Knesset with a budget 60 days before the new fiscal year begins. If the 2020 budget will only be presented in December, the government would therefore be in violation of a Basic Law.The government could get around this by deciding to change the law. While some Basic Laws can only be changed with 61 MKs voting in favor, Basic Law: The Economy is not one of them, and even a relative majority of MKs present would be enough.The refusal of both coalition partners, Likud and Blue and White, to get the Knesset legislation committee working on non-coronavirus laws makes such a course of action difficult.The government could also argue that the 2020 budget is “fictional,” since it would only be in effect for eight days, The Marker reported on Sunday. It is unclear what such a declaration might mean in practice.That same Basic Law also means that, if the government intends to approve a 2021 budget in March, it must be presented to the Knesset in early November.Could the Finance Ministry – which saw three of its top people resign in the space of a few months: director-general Keren Terner-Eyal, budget chief Shaul Meridor, and accountant-general Rony Hizkiyahu – step up to such a task?Gardos has taken up Meridor’s position. Before he left, Meridor claimed that Katz was creating “an atmosphere of terror” in the ministry.Masing, who reportedly objected to postponing the 2020 budget, allegedly became an undesirable presence in the ministry for several days afterwards.When Terner-Eyal asked to bring him back to the discussion table, Katz reportedly lashed out at her.Could the two men withstand the pressures of a minister whom N12 reported to be following the wishes of the prime minister?
To make matters even more complicated, the agreement between Likud and Blue and White is symmetrical – for the party to approve whoever will replace Hizkiyahu, Blue and White will demand to be allowed to make a counter-appointment of their own in a ministry they control. Will the coalition partners be able to agree on such a move?Israel is currently in the midst of the 100 days of grace that the government agreed upon to prevent triggering a fourth round of elections. Without a budget, such elections might be unavoidable.