Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his chief ally in the cabinet, MK Ehud Olmert (Likud), who serves as Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister, are planning dramatic changes in economic policy in order to stabilize the governing coalition.
Sharon and Olmert are planning on adopting Labor party demands to add NIS 4 billion to the state budget to fight poverty and close economic gaps in peripheral areas, primarily in the Negev and Galilee.
Meeting with Labor party leader MK Shimon Peres on Sunday, Olmert promised to explore ways of incorporating Peres’ proposals into the state budget.
Both Sharon and Olmert have recently emphasized the importance of using the state budget as a means of fighting poverty.
With the disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria behind them, Labor MK’s have threatened to pull the party out of the ruling coalition, if the state budget is not significantly amended to allocate more money for social causes.
Olmert and Peres apparently have agreed to iron out Labor’s demands among themselves without involving other MK’s or party officials.
Labor’s continued participation in the Likud-led coalition is especially important to Sharon and Olmert as they attempt to head-off an effort by former Finance Minister, MK Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) to topple the government, or shorten its life-span.
Netanyahu has been hoping to replace Sharon as head of the Likud party in party primary elections, a move that could potentially drive Sharon out of the party, weaken the Likud’s hold on power, and force early national elections.
Netanyahu, however, failed in his recent bid to have the party’s Central Committee advance the date of Likud primary elections. Netanyahu believes that he will fare better when those elections actually take place, albeit at a later date, because he believes he has the upper hand among party members, all of whom are entitled to vote in the primaries.
Sharon and Olmert are planning on adopting Labor party demands to add NIS 4 billion to the state budget to fight poverty and close economic gaps in peripheral areas, primarily in the Negev and Galilee.
Meeting with Labor party leader MK Shimon Peres on Sunday, Olmert promised to explore ways of incorporating Peres’ proposals into the state budget.
Both Sharon and Olmert have recently emphasized the importance of using the state budget as a means of fighting poverty.
With the disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria behind them, Labor MK’s have threatened to pull the party out of the ruling coalition, if the state budget is not significantly amended to allocate more money for social causes.
Olmert and Peres apparently have agreed to iron out Labor’s demands among themselves without involving other MK’s or party officials.
Labor’s continued participation in the Likud-led coalition is especially important to Sharon and Olmert as they attempt to head-off an effort by former Finance Minister, MK Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) to topple the government, or shorten its life-span.
Netanyahu has been hoping to replace Sharon as head of the Likud party in party primary elections, a move that could potentially drive Sharon out of the party, weaken the Likud’s hold on power, and force early national elections.
Netanyahu, however, failed in his recent bid to have the party’s Central Committee advance the date of Likud primary elections. Netanyahu believes that he will fare better when those elections actually take place, albeit at a later date, because he believes he has the upper hand among party members, all of whom are entitled to vote in the primaries.