Last update - 00:00 10/09/2006
PM will deal with coalition crisis once budget is approved
By Haaretz Staff
Senior sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert say he will be giving attention this week to his coalition woes. Sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Saturday that Olmert wants to get the budget passed in the cabinet and only then would he be free to decide how to solve the coalition issues.
Most of those close to the prime minister say the present coalition will make it very difficult to get the budget passed in the Knesset: One problem is the budgetary demands of the coalition members and the second is the independent streak evinced by Labor's lawmakers and its representatives on the Knesset Finance Committee.
However, sources in the prime minister's inner circle say it is still unclear when and how changes will be made in the coalition.
In an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on the Labor Party, Olmert's associates made it clear that the vote on the budget would carry weight. "We'll have to see how Labor behaves in the vote this week to see whether there is any point in continuing the partnership with them," a source said.
Meanwhile, additional voices around the prime minister are calling for breaking up the coalition partnership with Amir Peretz and Labor.
"We can't stand to look at that man," a source close to Olmert said over the weekend.
The Prime Minister's Bureau does not rule out the possibility that Labor's budgetary demands will move it closer to the opposition.
"Just the way Tommy Lapid tied himself down when he refused to support the transfer of funds to the ultra-Orthodox and found himself unwillingly dragged toward resigning from the cabinet, any coalition partner who presents unreasonable demands can be forced out," a source said.
But attempts are being made to whittle down the differences on budget issues between Kadima and Labor over issues involving the budget.
In a meeting of Labor's Knesset faction on Friday, it was decided to adopt a two-pronged approach: The faction authorized the party chairman, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, to negotiate directly with Olmert over the issues of principle in the budget, first and foremost the upgrading of minimum wage.
At the same time, until Tuesday's vote, the faction has sent ministers Isaac Herzog, Shalom Simhon and Eitan Cabel to discuss the budget with Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson. Hirschson and Herzog spoke by phone Saturday night, and Sunday the finance minister and his senior aides are to meet with the three Labor ministers.
Sources in Labor said they are not at all interested in leaving the cabinet. In a faction meeting it was agreed that, in any case, leaving the coalition will not be considered at this time, even if an understanding is not reached by Tuesday and the Labor ministers vote against the budget.
"Our voters want us in the cabinet, that comes to the fore in the opinion polls," a Labor minister said Saturday.
"This coalition must keep its foundation of Kadima and Labor so that it can survive," the minister added.