Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to submit the natural gas plan for Knesset approval on Monday.
It appears that Netanyahu's lieutenants are also considering asking the Knesset to vote on a transfer of authority under Section 52 from Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri to the entire cabinet. Section 52 authorizes the Minister of the Economy to bypass the Antitrust Authority director general.
At the same time, it is unclear how Netanyahu plans to obtain a majority, since three of his ministers - Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon, Minister of Construction Yoav Galant, and Minister of Welfare and Social Services Haim Katz - do not intend to take part in the vote.
In order to obtain a majority, Netanyahu will need the support of Yisrael Beitenu's opposition MKs, but some sources close to Netanyahu suspect that Yisrael Beitenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman will change his decision at the last minute, and will not support the plan.
It was reported yesterday that the cabinet would bring the gas plan to the Knesset, in line with Netanyahu's decision.
Despite the huge gas discovery by ENI off the coast of Egypt, and even though it is clear that this will affect development of the natural gas sector in Israel in general, and the gas plan in particular, the plan will be submitted without changes.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 3, 2015
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