The protocols of the discussions by the Kandel team that formulated the plan for competition in the natural gas sector will be published soon, "Globes" has discovered.
Only a week ago, Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni said, "The protocols do not exist," because the Kandel team did not document its work with any paperwork whatsoever.
A "Globes" query to the Ministry of Finance, however, today showed that not only do the protocols exist and take up dozens of pages, but they will be disclosed to the public in the coming days. The minutes are being published to fulfill the pledge by Ministry of Finance budget direct Amir Levy, who said several weeks ago that in view of the great public importance of the matter and the need for transparency, the Ministry of Finance would publish the relevant material, but would do so at a stage at which their exposure would not affect the negotiations with the gas developers.
Levy's promise, however, apparently made no impression on the Knesset Finance Committee members. During a meeting of the committee on the subject of natural gas, last Wednesday, the MKs demanded the protocols of the team's discussions. In response, Gafni explained that they could not have the protocols because they did not exist. "I wanted protocols, and they said there was nothing written because the team was only a preliminary one, and could not make any decision."
MK Dov Khenin remarked, "What, are they working without any documentation? Do they think we're idiots? Maybe the Finance Committee should be eliminated." MK Stav Shafir commented, that she had demanded written material from the Ministry of Justice, but Gafni had answered, "There is no paperwork that we can present."
The team, composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy, and Water Resources, the Antitrust Authority, and the Ministry of Justice was named the Kandel team after National Economic Council chairman Eugene Kandel, whom the Prime Minister asked to consider solutions to the crisis in the gas sector that resulted after Antitrust Authority director general Prof. David Gilo declared that he was retracting his compromise agreement with the gas developers.
National Economic Council vice-chairman Morris Dorfman said in the discussion, "There is no Kandel team; there is staff work by all the relevant government agencies with summaries of the discussions."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 7, 2015
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