A session of the Knesset Finance Committee was halted on Wednesday, 23 Sivan after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made the request. The committee was discussing the law to permit passing a biennial state budget in November. Mr. Netanyahu now wants to pass a triennial budget, for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.

At present Israel is operating without a budget as elections for 20th Knesset interrupted the process. The coalition already decided to approve a biennial budget but now talks will have to surround the prime minister’s request for a third year. In addition, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon asked for an extension before the budget is presented, now slated for November. These measures demand amending the Basic Law. The government pushed through a first reading of a budget even before the Finance Committee was established in the new coalition. The government bill would grant 175 days to approve the budget, until November 5th.

When it hit the committee it was delayed by Chairman MK Moshe Gafne, who is seeking an amended version, causing a delay of 15 days, till November 20th. What was really taking place behind the scenes was not a discussion or dispute over the date but the duration of the budget; biennial or triennial. The prime minister, finance minister and chairman of the Finance Committee are now working on a budget that would be from November 2015 to the end of 2017.

It is likely that the coalition will approve the current version in the coming days, granting 190 days until final approval. It remains unclear if it will be a two-year or three-year budget. If a third year is added, the cabinet will have to approve the move.

Mr. Netanyahu is well aware that each time the budget has to be approved, it is accompanied by months of deal-making and tensions. If he can pass a three-year budget, it will add a measure of coalition stability in his eyes. However from the other side such a budget would present formidable difficulty for the treasury as far as responding to economic changes in the coming years. Members of the opposition are already shouting “outrage”, with some adding such a move will not withstand a challenge to the Supreme Court.

The opponents are not just members of the opposition but also some of the professionals in the treasury. They explain it is quite difficult today to predict an economic forecast so far in advance and in Israel, one can rely on the fact that the unforeseeable will occur.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)