MK David Bitan (Likud) spoke to Israel National News at the Knesset on Monday and said that the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will do everything in its power to lower the cost of living in Israel.
"We will work so that the prices will go down because this is a very important part of what the Economic Affairs Committee does and a very important part of what the Likud promised during the elections. It is impossible not to take care of this and we need to use all forces: The government on the one hand, the legislation on the other, and information on the third. The big companies live by their image, by their public status. We have many means to deal with this and I think we will succeed," he said.
"Prices have always gone up in Israel. We always do reforms and nothing remains from these reforms, we forget that there was a reform, so we do another reform. The bottom line is that prices are always going up and someone is causing it. I'm not looking for culprits, I'm looking for results, and I promise - there will be results," stressed Bitan.
Asked about the clashes during the committee’s discussion, Bitan said, "Each one blames the other and that is natural. As soon as it seems that someone is bothering us, we will know how to take care of him. No one influences us."
To the question of whether the issue of the judicial reform might push the economic issue aside, Bitan replied, "The cost of living cannot be ignored. It is something that affects all the residents of the country, poor and not poor, and in the end, it is something that must be dealt with. How can we go to the next elections without having dealt with the most important issue to the citizens of the country? The food and the apartment prices are two things that must be taken care of in order to reduce the cost of living. I will be calm if I see that the prices go down in the end."