The Knesset Economics Committee headed by MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is no justification for approving the gas agreement and bypassing the Israel Antitrust Authority head's powers because there are no economic or security reasons to support such a decision.
After three weeks of discussions, as part of the consultancy procedure of Clause 52 of the Antitrust Law on the matter of natural gas, the Economics Committee has completed its deliberations and submitted its report and recommendations to Netanyahu. It has recommended not approving the agreement in its current format.
The MKs formally concluded their meetings and at 12.30 Cabel presented the conclusions and recommendations. After studying the report, Netanyahu can nevertheless as Minister of Economy and Industry, approve the gas agreement despite the Economics Committee recommendation and this is what is likely to happen either today or in the coming few days.
Over the past few weeks, the Knesset Economics Committee has been holding discussions with both coalition and opposition MKs and has heard environmental organizations, and other interested parties supporting and opposing the agreement. Netanyahu himself participated in the discussions last Tuesday, and according to Cabel did not give the committee the answers it had been waiting for.
Last month, Netanyahu informed Cabel that he will enact Clause 52 of the Antitrust Authority Law allowing the antitrust head to be bypassed in order to approve the natural gas agreement. Netanyahu cited reasons of state security. Speaking to the Economics Committee, Netanyahu claimed that approving the gas agreement is vital for the existence of the State. The way was cleared for Netanyahu's move by Arieh Deri who resigned as Minister of Economy and transferred his powers to the Prime Minister.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 14, 2015
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