Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his cabinet this morning for a marathon meeting to discuss the proposed government budget for 2003. The meeting was still going on as we went to press.
Sharon planned to conduct a vote on the matter, but is not likely to do so if its passage is not guaranteed - and it is not. NRP Ministers Eitam and Levy said they would vote against it, because of the large cut in the education budget, many Labor Party ministers plan to vote against - or at least to abstain - and even the Likud\'s Tzachi HaNegbi has said he would not support it. The five ministers of Shas are also against. Minister David Levy resigned from the government on Sunday in protest of the blows the new budget would deal the lower classes. Various groups protested the planned budget cuts outside the government offices this morning.
Sharon planned to conduct a vote on the matter, but is not likely to do so if its passage is not guaranteed - and it is not. NRP Ministers Eitam and Levy said they would vote against it, because of the large cut in the education budget, many Labor Party ministers plan to vote against - or at least to abstain - and even the Likud\'s Tzachi HaNegbi has said he would not support it. The five ministers of Shas are also against. Minister David Levy resigned from the government on Sunday in protest of the blows the new budget would deal the lower classes. Various groups protested the planned budget cuts outside the government offices this morning.