Last update - 00:00 05/07/2007
Why do they deserve it?
By Haaretz Editorial
For two years now, a welcome proposal to reduce the scandalous retirement benefits given to senior government officials has been circulating in the Knesset. Its targets are the benefit packages enjoyed by former presidents, Knesset speakers and prime ministers in addition to their pensions. A mere year and a half on the job is enough to entitle Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, like her predecessors, to a government car for the rest of her life, in addition to an office, office services and a telephone allowance.
In addition to all this, former presidents also receive an apartment and a 140-square-meter office in any city of their choosing, for the rest of their lives, as well as an entertainment allowance.
These benefits are difficult to eliminate, because it seems that every Knesset member sees himself as a potential victim of the cuts. And even if the Knesset decides to strip Moshe Katsav of his benefits following his conviction, that will not suffice. These exorbitant perks for former officeholders must stop immediately, even if the recipients are pure as the driven snow. One should not be swayed by the demagogic, drama-laden discussion at which former Knesset speaker Dan Tichon was rushed to the hospital and another former Knesset speaker, Shevach Weiss, declared that his days were numbered, and therefore he should not be stripped of his office services.
Were anyone to ask the public's opinion of the millions that are paid to former officeholders like Avraham Burg, Yitzhak Navon, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, or about the money that is paid to the widows of deceased officeholders, on top of the pensions to which they are entitled, a large majority would presumably object.
While teachers, doctors, clerks, engineers and other public servants must live solely on their pensions, those who have always earned nice salaries are given exorbitant benefits for the rest of their lives. With the pension of NIS 46,000 a month that the outgoing president will receive, he can finance his car and apartment by himself. If his office is not funded by the public, he will probably discover that he does not really need it.
Over the past decade, there has been a higher turnover in senior officials than in the past, and the age of the retirees has also fallen. The Knesset was aware of this and decided to limit the benefit packages to seven years from the date of a former president's retirement, and five years for a former prime minister.
But even this grace period is unjustified. A criminal conviction should not be the main reason for canceling this parasitism altogether. The most senior officeholders, who are also the best paid public servants, should make do with their pensions.
Financing benefits for former prime ministers to the tune of NIS 2 million a year also prevents new people from entering the public arena: Those who retire at the public's expense receive offices that enable them to plan their comebacks, which gives them an unfair advantage over their rivals. In sum, these ostentatious benefits are immoral.