Last update - 00:00 08/09/2006
PM to meet Peretz, Hirchson in effort to tie up budgetary loose ends
By Moti Bassok, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet with Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson on Sunday, two days before the final cabinet meeting on the state budget, to discuss defense spending and the Labor Party's demands.
Hirchson and Peretz on Thursday continued a marathon of meetings they began last Wednesday.
Finance Ministry officials believe the cabinet will approve the 2007 state budget by a big majority in Tuesday's vote. This is based on the feeling that some Labor ministers, such as Shalom Simhon and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, may back the treasury budget proposal even if Peretz instructs party members to veto the budget.
Hirchson's office believes the other two coalition partners, Shas and the
Pensioners' Party, will support the budget.
Treasury officials said Thursday that some changes may be made to the
proposal before Tuesday, although only within the budget framework.
On Thursday, Hirchson met with cabinet members Shimon Peres, Tzipi Livni, Yaakov Ben Yizri, Ze'ev Boim, Avi Dichter, Yuli Tamir, Yitzhak Cohen and Eitan Cabel to discuss budget issues as well as the specific budgets for their ministries.
The treasury noted that Education Minister Tamir had complained that her ministry had been consistently fiscally deprived and had demanded more funds in 2007.
On Sunday, Hirchson will meet with Pensioners' Party chairman Rafi Eitan for the third time in recent days to finalize the last points of disagreement on the budget before the vote. A similar meeting with Shas chairman Eli Yishai is also expected on Sunday.